Repatriation Flights of Undocumented Immigrants Expected to Cost U.S. More than $9M in 2011
With cooperation from the Mexican government, the voluntary repatriation of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. by bus and plane has resumed.
For undocumented immigrants caught at the border, the program flies them to Mexico City, on a voluntary basis. The location was chosen because it is about 1,000 miles from the border and reduces the chance that one of the migrants with attempt to sneak back over the border again, said Vincent Picard, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) based in Phoenix.
Once in Mexico City they are given bus tickers to return to their hometown.
“It breaks the link between the smuggled alien and the criminal smuggling organization that marches aliens through the desert, risking their lives through the extreme temperatures that Arizona brings in the summertime,” Picard told The Arizona Republic.
This program will run until September 28th, with an expected cost $9 million to $11 million.
And though this happens with the cooperation of the Mexican government, the U.S. pays for the cost of the plane and bus tickets.
Last year, 23,384 undocumented border crossers were returned to Mexico at a cost of $14.8 million to the United States.
Plan that flies immigrants to Mexico City resumes
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The United States has resumed an 8-year-old program that flies undocumented immigrants, caught at the border, to Mexico City during the hot summer months as part of an effort to stem illegal immigration, thwart smuggling organizations and prevent migrant deaths.
The voluntary program, operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will run through Sept. 28 and is expected to cost $9 million to $11 million, said Vincent Picard, a spokesman for ICE based in Phoenix.
Under the program, undocumented immigrants from central and southern states in Mexico apprehended by the Border Patrol are given the opportunity to fly on a chartered flight from Tucson to Mexico City, where they are given bus tickets to return to their hometowns.
Ordinarily, undocumented immigrants from Mexico caught by the Border Patrol are simply returned to Mexico through ports along the border, where many simply reconnect with smugglers and attempt to cross illegally again.
Flying immigrants to Mexico City, more than 1,000 miles away, reduces the chance the migrant will try to sneak across the border again, Picard said.
"It breaks the link between the smuggled alien and the criminal smuggling organization that marches aliens through the desert, risking their lives through the extreme temperatures that Arizona brings in the summertime," Picard said.
From Oct. 1, 2010, through the end of June, 128 migrants have died in the Arizona desert, according to the website No More Deaths, a humanitarian group based in Tucson that tracks migrant deaths.
The repatriation program is run with the cooperation of the Mexican government.
But the U.S. pays for the cost of the flights and the bus tickets. Mexican consular officials interview all migrants before they board the flights to make sure they are participating voluntarily, Picard said.
"Indeed, this program is one more example of how cooperation between our countries can lead to solutions to common problems," Salvador Beltran del Rio, commissioner of Mexico's National Migration Institute, said in a written statement.
The first flight left Tucson International Airport on Monday with 88 people aboard, Picard said.
Last year, the U.S. government returned 23,384illegal border crossers to Mexico under the program
at a cost of $14.8 million, Picard said. Last year's program ran for 120 days and began on June 1, a month earlier than this year.
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