There are not thousands of immigrants being flown in overnight to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity, said Gabe Monzo, Westmoreland County Airport Authority executive director.
To some chuckles from board members and others in attendance at the authority’s board meeting Tuesday, Monzo addressed the nuisance that has become part of his job.
“I just want to dispel that rumor, and do that emphatically, that we are not doing that,” he said.
Spirit Airlines is the sole commercial carrier at the Unity airport, which also is used by private aircraft. DeNunzio’s Italian Restaurant holds space inside the terminal, and private aircraft companies have hangars on the grounds.
Monzo doesn’t know the source of the rumor but said he has been getting calls from people in the community inquiring about it, some of which are from police and people involved in politics.
“It’s not happening. We have over 100 cameras on this airport,” he said. “It’s not part of what we do. And just please — I’m very serious — we’ve been getting legitimate calls from legitimate people that are getting these phone calls, and it’s not happening.”
An Airbus aircraft, the type that Spirit operates, holds about 175 passengers, Monzo said.
“(If) five Airbuses come in the middle of the night, I guarantee the people in Lawson Heights would hang me in effigy,” he said during the board meeting, referring to a nearby community.
Airplanes of that size need help from an air traffic control tower, said authority board chairman Donald J. Rossi.
“Our tower hasn’t operated at night, or 1 in the morning or 2 in the morning, to clear flights in,” he said.
Monzo encouraged anyone who has evidence of immigrants being flown into the airport to share it so it can be investigated.
Immigration has become a hot topic in the 2024 presidential election. If elected, Republican nominee Donald Trump has vowed to stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, according to the Associated Press. In a campaign speech, the former president leveled criticism against the Haitian immigrant community in Charleroi.
Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona during a campaign stop in September. She called for tightening of asylum restrictions while working on a better way to welcome immigrants legally, the AP reported.
Hundreds of miles from that border, Monzo is hearing the immigration rumors involving the airport from people from all walks of life.
“It’s really frustrating to even consider these issues,” he said. “These are just nuisance.”