Rep. Matt Gaetz presses Delta CEO on whether the airline is transporting illegal immigrants

Rep. Matt Gaetz pressed the CEO of Delta Air Lines on whether it’s transporting illegal immigrants from the U.S./Mexico border to the interior of the country.

In a letter to Delta CEO Ed Bastion, Mr. Gaetz, Florida Republican, questioned whether the company was using taxpayer money funneled through nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, to transport a huge number of illegals.

“It has recently come to my attention that Delta Air Lines is transporting nonresident aliens from the southern border of the United States into the interior of the country,” Mr. Gaetz wrote. “The United States Congress has an interest in understanding pursuant to which arrangements with federal agencies and [NGOs] nonresident aliens are able to book and travel on Delta Air Lines flights.”

The lawmaker’s inquiry follows a viral post from conservative commentator Ashley St. Clair, who accused the airline of transporting migrants from Arizona to New York City.

Mr. Gaetz said it was “alarming” that taxpayer money could be footing the travel bill for the migrants and found it even more stomach-curdling that the illegals “may not be properly vetted.”

“Therefore, I am concerned the Transportation Security Administration may be allowing nonresident aliens to board flights, including those operated by Delta Air Lines, with an alternate form of identification that meets a weaker standard than that used to verify the identities of American citizens when they fly,” he wrote.

The lawmaker requested that Delta disclose how many migrants have been transported on behalf of governmental agencies and NGOs since January 2021, how NGOs reimburse or purchase the airline tickets, whether the company has received reimbursements or incentives for transporting migrants, and whether the TSA has notified the company of the types of identification that would let illegals pass through security and fly.

“It is of the utmost importance and of great concern for national security that you are transparent in discussing these arrangements with Congress,” Mr. Gaetz wrote. “The American people and their elected representatives must be made aware of how the cooperation between federal agencies, NGOs and Delta Air Lines impacts our national security.”

Mr. Gaetz’s request comes as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continues to bus and fly illegal immigrants to Democratic-run cities like New York and Chicago to make a point of the flood of migrants illegally crossing the U.S./Mexico border under President Biden.

Mr. Abbott, who had been busing migrants to Chicago, recently upped the ante on his quest after the city enacted an ordinance to impound buses without permits or that failed to drop migrants off at the proper locations.

He announced this week plans to charter a flight to send illegals north.