NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Migrant children “fresh across the border” are riding buses and now flying into Tennessee, sources tell FOX 17 News.

A source close to the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to FOX 17 News, gave an inside look at how children are being transported from border facilities into different states. He says a third-party in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security reached out to him regarding the routes.

“There are drop-offs in small towns and big cities all along the routes. I don’t know if they’re going into other processing centers. In some cases, family members are waiting to find these children and there have been some emotional reunions. But my understanding in a number of these cases, these kids are fresh across the border. Whether they’re going to sponsors, family members, I don’t know. They have intentionally not shared a lot of information with us. They don’t want this to get out,” he said.

According to our source, the Biden Administration has changed their tactics of bringing unaccompanied children into the U.S. and that most of the transports begin in Dallas before sending the children to larger cities like New York, Chicago, or Miami, while dropping kids off to locations like Chattanooga or Nashville along the way.

“They had, to my understanding, a field full of buses with more buses and more buses running all of these routes. Now, they’re flying the kids because the buses were easier to videotape going down the highway. They’ve changed their strategy from buses to flying,” he explained. “In Chattanooga and other cities, motorcoach companies are waiting on planes to land and continuing their trek further north, dropping kids off along the way.”

He says the children being brought into the country appear to be well-cared for with haircuts and new tennis shoes, but described the hours they spend in transport as sad.

“The bus comes through in the middle of the night. The kids get on a different bus because of DOD regulations. The bus goes another 8 or 9, 10 hours, they’ll make a couple stops along the way. I don’t know where they’re going. Then they’ll get on another bus, go another 8 or 9 hours. So they have chained all of these companies together. They go from one bus company to another bus company to another bus company. It’s very sad.”

Told to stay silent, one bus company’s driver bravely spoke to FOX 17 News about traveling with the unaccompanied migrant children. She has been behind the wheel of charter buses for nearly 20 years now and has “never experienced anything like this.”

Since the end of April, she has driven three bus loads of migrant children and chaperones with around 30-45 people per trip. She says each of her routes have left her in the dark, with last-minute requests and little to no information other than pick-up and drop-off points.

“I have no idea. I assume they’re from Homeland Security, but I have no idea. I myself am kind of in the dark. By the way, I need you here in five hours. Hurry up and pack, here’s where we need you. They call me when the first bus leaves. Once I leave, then they’re contacting the next driver,” she said. “The whole thing is last minute. It makes it easier, it’s more protection for the children.”

Where are the children from? The driver believes most of the minors are coming from Guatemala, Mexico or Honduras.

“They act like any normal children. They are kind of scared at first because you know they have no idea what’s going on. Hardly any of them speak English, so they’re scared,” she said.

Where are they going? Different locations, but she knows some drop-offs have been in Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga.

“I’ve traveled to several different places. It hasn’t always been at the exact same location. There have been some drop-offs in Nashville, some in Knoxville, some in Chattanooga, a couple in Atlanta. That’s just as far as I go, then the children continue on further. They’re getting dropped off progressively through the whole route,” she explains.

With each of her drop-offs, she says chaperones on the bus make sure children are reunited with their parents, relatives or sponsors by checking IDs and passports. She has seen 15 children become reunited with their loved ones so far, with one reunion during her route in Nashville. Choking up, she described the reunions as amazing and heartfelt.

“There is no words to see how happy these children and parents are to be reunited. There’s no words,” she said. “As a parent myself, I can only imagine what these families go through. To see them reunited is just beyond speech. There’s nothing you can say to explain this reuniting of families.”

But some say this isn’t always the case.

“Some of them are being reunited with family members and that’s touching, heartwarming to see, but I think that’s the exception, not the rule,” one source said.

In response to reports of migrant children entering Tennessee, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) sent a letter to President Biden, demanding transparency on the matter.

“There are media reports that, within the last week, at least four planes carrying UACs landed at Wilson Air Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before swiftly boarding the children onto buses and transporting them to multiple cities across the southeastern United States for apparent resettlement, with zero transparency regarding what was happening,” a representative for Senator Blackburn wrote.

As for Senator Blackburn, she blames the Biden Administration and says she is deeply troubled by the “lack of transparency.”

“His administration is secretly transporting the migrants the Border Patrol did catch to communities throughout the United States. They are doing this in the dead of night without the knowledge or permission of the communities involved,” Senator Blackburn said. “Joe Biden has put these children at risk. He is putting Tennesseans at risk. The American people deserve the truth now.”

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee quickly issued his support for Senators Blackburn and Hagerty speaking out.

“When we demanded answers, they cut off transparency & emboldened one of the worst human trafficking crises we’ve seen at our border in the last 20 years. I commend Senator Hagerty & Senator Marsha Blackburn for calling this out – Tennesseans deserve to know who is coming into our state,” the Governor tweeted alongside a link to a Fox News article.

When asked if the Governor knew of the migrant stops in Chattanooga himself, a spokesperson for Lee said no.

“No, the Biden Administration is not providing any visibility and has not responded to our requests for information. Everything we’ve learned has been from news reports,” the spokesperson said.

Lee previously led a letter to the White House signed by Republican governors across the country telling Biden officials their states do not want to house unaccompanied minors from the border, saying: “We have neither the resources nor the obligation to solve the federal government’s problem.”

Meanwhile, Immigration Attorney Brittany Faith says many of the unaccompanied minors have been victims of abuse and gang violence.

"I hope the local community will respect their privacy and let them have the space to heal and be reunited with their families," Faith said.

With conflicted opinions on both sides of the aisle, our source believes this is just the beginning.

“They are just getting ramped up. They’re just getting started. I can’t tell you how many busloads of kids they have already shipped into our country,” a source said.

FOX 17 News reached out to the Department of Defense about the migrant children being transported to Tennessee. Eight hours after asking for answers, we have not heard back.

Reporter Jackie DelPilar is keeping track of the situation and following this story tonight on FOX 17 News @ 9. WATCH HERE.