Grand jury report details concerns after migrant children land in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FLV) – A grand jury report detailed concerns after airplanes filled with migrant children landed at the Jacksonville International Airport overnight in 2021. 

The grand jury was impaneled after Gov. Ron DeSantis requested in 2022 the group recommend changes and improvements to Florida law to better handle illegal immigration.

The report highlighted several issues including the overnight migrant flights, the lack of response from the federal government, and the “unsecure” transportation of migrant children. 

During a six month period in 2021, more than 70 large commercial passenger jets full of unaccompanied migrant children, most were older teenagers, were landing in Jacksonville in the middle of the night, according to the report. 

The report said the companies charged with fueling and offloading the cargo received last minute notice of the flights, “scrambling for workers to be available.”

The migrants were met by private buses or other coach services that also received last minute notice of the number of passengers they would be serving and where their destination would be.

Two senators and 13 U.S. representatives from Florida wrote letters to the Department of Homeland Security “demanding to know what was going on” when airplanes “full of children” were landing in Jacksonville in the middle of the night. However, they received no cooperation, according to the report.

The children would exit the aircraft in an “extremely unsecure environment,” board the buses or SUVs, the buses would then make “several stops” where some of the children would exit.

One individual was a 24-year-old male, wrongly vetted as a child by the Office of Refugee Resettlement and placed onto a plane full of other children.

The 24-year-old was delivered to his sponsor, a man who claimed falsely to be this person’s uncle, in Jacksonville.

The “fake” migrant child reportedly proceeded to violently murder the sponsor by stabbing him more than 50 times and “bludgeoning” him with a chair.

“We wish this were the only case which we have learned about; it is not, but it does serve as a perfect illustration of the completely foreseeable tragic outcomes which occur as a result of this type of activity,” the report said.

When investigators attempted to learn more about the situation of the flights full of unaccompanied migrant children, they were met with “locked gates and letters from lawyers.” After they started issuing subpoenas and making inquiries, the flights stopped, according to the report.

Investigators have since learned that the Office of Refugee Resettlement now conceals small groups of migrant children on regular commercial flights and conducts their operations in a “piecemeal fashion.”

The report said they have “more than enough” information to understand what is going on and will continue investigating.

Another concern in the report regarding migrant children was the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s loose background check process for minor’s potential sponsors.

Changes to the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s background check policies were “weakened” for the purpose of “efficiency” in 2021, according to the report.

Since January 2021, approximately 165,000 unaccompanied migrant children nationwide have been given to someone who is not their parent or legal guardian.

Approximately 90,000 have been turned over to someone who claimed to be a family member without DNA testing or adequate documentation, and about 30,000 have been surrendered to someone who they have no known relation to.

The report says it is often “overlooked” that both background and fingerprint checks for sponsors only account for activity within the U.S. Unless a sponsor volunteers it, there is no way for case managers to know whether the sponsor has a criminal or sex offense record, or other concerning behavior in their country of origin.

As a rule, according to the report, case managers do not actually go inside to see the location they are sending a migrant child to live.

The report said they were told by witnesses that some sponsors used the “address” of a Jacksonville strip club, empty lots surrounded by stacked shipping containers, or open fields.

One witness said they were told after voicing concerns about these so-called addresses, that “we can’t judge where people are forced to live,” while being ordered to “force a child to live in such circumstances.”

Of the 245,515 children placed with sponsors between August 2018 and January 2022, only 1,835 received discretionary home studies. That is less than one percent of cases.

Another “disturbing pattern” the report discussed were cases where the same sponsor applies to receive multiple migrant children, sometimes at the same address, sometimes at a different one.

One address in Austin, Texas had more than 100 migrant children released to a single-family dwelling, according to the report.

Ultimately, the report recommended that Florida law be changed to mandate that anyone residing in Florida who obtains “continuing physical custody of a minor child of whom the individual is not the biological parent or court-appointed legal guardian” must report that custody to the Department of Children and Families within 30 days.

They would also be required to initiate proceedings under Florida Statutes to determine legal custody of the child.

The Florida Supreme Court granted DeSantis’ petition for the grand jury in June 2022.

The grand jury was tasked with investigating networks bringing people illegally from the southern border to Florida. The jury will examine these networks’ impact on Florida and how they violated state law. It will also investigate local governments that aid in the smuggling scheme. 

In January 2022, the jury released findings recommending “immediate action” on illegal immigration.