Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino accused Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday of failing to enforce existing state law against the migrants that the White House is flying into an airport outside New York City under cover of darkness.

Astorino, a former Westchester County executive, said a 1951 statute gives Hochul the power to determine the identities of foreigners who arrive in the Empire State.

“It’s Governor Hochul’s responsibility to know who’s on these flights, yet she’s refusing to use her powers to find out,” Astorino said.

“New Yorkers have a right to know who’s being flown in, and taxpayers should be informed about the scope of this secretive relocation program”

He added: “Government is supposed to be accountable to its citizens — even in New York.”

The reasons for wanting the information are obvious, Astorino said, pointing to New York’s violent crime and drug problems fueled by immigrant gangs such as MS-13. he also noted the potential added burden on local services including schools.    

Last year, The Post exclusively revealed how President Joe Biden’s administration was using charter flights to ferry underage migrants from the southern border to the Westchester County Airport near White Plains.

The migrant flights were suspended following the expose but have quietly resumed, The Post reported earlier this month.

The 1951 law says the governor can “direct every subject or citizen of such foreign countries” to appear at a government facility within 24 hours of arrival and “personally register his or her name, residence, business, length of stay and such other information.”

The law also requires hotels and others providing housing to report the arrival and departure of newly arrived foreigners within 24 hours.

“A failure to comply with any such proclamation or to perform any act required by this section shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment for one year or both,” the law states.

Astorino, holding a press conference outside the governor’s Manhattan office Wednesday, said there’s “complete chaos” at the southern border “and  that chaos is being spread to the rest of the country, including New York.”

“The governor doesn’t have a care in the world about what is happening in her own backyard. Who is coming in, what’s their background checks, where are they being placed, what’s the cost, what communities are absorbing this, what schools are absorbing this?” claimed Astorino, who was the GOP nominee for governor in 2014.

“All of these basic questions, that we have a right to know, are totally being ignored. The Governor is willfully ignoring her authority to understand who is coming into New York state.”

Enacting the “registration of aliens” provision under Article 2 of the state Executive Law would force the Biden administration to hand over the manifests for the migrant flights, according to Astorino. 

Astorino said he wrote Biden in February and demanding details about the flights, including passenger manifests.

The White House never responded, he said.

Astorino also said Hochul has remained “silent” in response to his calls for her to get answers from the Biden administration.

“The governor has the authority, under this law, to put a state trooper on the runway if she wants, to prevent those flights coming in if they don’t give over the manifests,” Astorino said. “Or to demand, before anyone comes off [the planes], to give over the information required under this law.”

The migrant flights that land at Westchester County Airport are typically met by buses which transport the passengers into communities throughout New York State, or other states. The migrants are accompanied by government-contracted chaperones.

Communities who are given little or no information about who’s arriving have to scramble to accommodate the new immigrants, including enrolling them in local schools, Astorino said. 

Astorino said every New Yorker deserves to know who is being flown into the state.

“We need answers from the federal government about who is coming into the community because it has an impact on the community.  There’s issues with gangs and drugs,” he said.

“They could enter the workforce, which could take away jobs. Now they are coming in on an almost daily basis and communities are given no notice, people are being placed into our schools and getting benefits from the state.”

Astorino’s get-tough on illegal immigration bid clashes with the generous policies of Hochul and other Democrats, which he complains only encourages more illegal border crossings and more migrants to flood the state.

Hochul and the Democratic-run legislature inserted a provision in the recently approved state budget making older, undocumented immigrants eligible for Medicaid, the government-provided health insurance program for the needy — as long as they meet eligibility requirements.

The state is footing the entire cost of the $220 million program to cover undocumented immigrants age 65 and older because US law bars using federal dollars for illegal immigrants.

Last year, the state set up a $2.1 billion “excluded workers fund” to provide assistance to workers ineligible for other federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds or unemployment benefits — mostly residents living here illegally.

New York City is labeled a “sanctuary” municipality, where official policy is to protect illegal immigrants from deportation — including by barring local law enforcement authorities from reporting the immigration status of residents to federal authorities.

Hochul’s office had no immediate comment.