Texas lawmaker uncovers secret operation to move migrants across the US, house them in abandoned hotels

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Texas lawmaker says whistleblower showed evidence migrants were being housed in abandoned hotel

Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, discusses his trip to visit the locations of migrant hubs and the documents obtained by an anonymous source

Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, said Monday that he has uncovered a secret operation by nonprofits to house and move migrants within the United States, providing them with a packet on how to navigate and assimilate into the country. 

During an appearance on "Fox & Friends" Monday, Gooden said that he was contacted by a whistleblower from San Diego who provided him with details on the kind of information the nonprofit groups were providing to the migrants. 

The Texas representative subsequently hopped on a plane and discovered that abandoned hotels in the California city were being utilized as shelters for the migrants. Some of the locations he mentioned included The Four Points by Sheraton [San Diego], a Wyndham and a Ramada Inn. 

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"I managed to get in the gates, I demanded entry once and was refused. I talked a guard into letting me in on another occasion and when I was in there I saw busses pulling up, probably about 100 migrants over an hour got off of these busses," said Gooden. 

Gooden said that upon arrival the migrants were "welcomed by people with open arms" before being processed, tested for COVID and then handed packets.

U.S. Border Patrol officer gives water to detained migrants waiting to be transported by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing into the United States from Mexico in Andrade, California, U.S., April 19, 2021. (REUTERS/Jim Urquhart)

"This packet is what I received from the whistleblower a few weeks ago," said Gooden. "And these packets detail how to go to the airport, how to get past TSA without any identification, how to enroll your children in schools and assimilate in whatever community you desire to go in."

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The Texas lawmaker said he spoke to TSA about the packets and it informed him that migrants sometimes show up with "very convincing letters" and in some cases are let on the airplane before anyone else. An armed security officer reportedly told Gooden that migrants are often already on the plane when he boards early to tell the pilot of his presence. 

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Gooden indicated that the biggest propagators of this operation were the Catholic charities of San Diego and the Jewish Family Association, nonprofits with prominent donors - including AT&T, Bank of America and the federal government.