Posted on 06/11/2005 7:30:28 AM PDT by Borax Queen
A total of 154 illegal immigrants were flown back to Mexico Friday by the U.S. government in a relaunch of a costly and controversial free-flight program officials say is aimed at thwarting human-smugglers.
Two Aeromexico flights left Tucson for Mexico City on Friday, both carrying Mexican nationals recently caught sneaking across the border. Several passengers on the free flights had suffered illness and injury in that effort, which kills scores of crossers every summer.
The two daily flights will continue until the end of September, with the goal of returning nearly 34,000 illegal entrants during the four-month period.
Upon landing in their country's capital, some entrants pledged to try to cross again, while others said their border crossing days were over.
"No, I don't think I'd try again. It's too tough a trip,"said Oscar Castrejon, 30, a farm worker from Acapulco who walked three days in the desert.
Nearby, Felipe Rendon, a farmer from Huautla, in southern Morelos state, said: "Of course I'll try again. There are no jobs here."
In the second year of the program, the U.S. Border Patrol will try to cut the high costs - financed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - racked up last year.
Last summer, each one-way ticket cost more than $1,000, for a total of $15.4 million to return only 14,097 people. This year, with the aim of more than doubling the number of passengers, that figure is predicted to drop to around $400 per ticket.
"The main reasons we're doing this is to, one, save lives, and two, disrupt the smuggling organizations out here," said José Garza, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.
"Yes, it's a very costly program. But these people do not have the money to return to their place of origin, so smugglers prey on them as soon as we take them back to the desert across the border," he said.
"By taking them to Mexico City, so they can get home, that does not happen."
Once in Mexico City, people are bused to their hometowns, mostly in southern Mexico.
Critics of the program call it a waste of money, saying many of those flown out last year were back in the Arizona desert just days after their flight home.
They question government reports showing that about 10 percent of those flown out tried to cross again, while more than a third of all border-crossers are picked up more than once.
"That's what their numbers say, but their only measure is if these people show up in the system again. Many may have learned how to evade the system by then," said the Rev. Robin Hoover, pastor of Tucson's First Christian Church and founder of Humane Borders, a human rights group.
"The numbers do not give an accurate picture of what's really going on," Hoover said.
If the Border Patrol is truly serious about saving lives, said Hoover, "let's go out and get the rest, and do it in a cost-effective and comprehensive way." He called for cell phone towers in remote areas and water stations on federal, state and tribal land.
"And let's tell migrants what they're going to endure before they try to cross, instead of just trying to scare them," he said.
The Border Patrol's goal of doubling the numbers flown back may be hard to reach. The program is voluntary, and last year, only 12 percent of those apprehended took the flights.
Each flight can carry 150 passengers, for a total of 300 each day. Friday's two flights, carrying a total of 154, fell well short.
Border Patrol officials are targeting at-risk people for a flight, those too weak to attempt another crossing, Garza said.
"They have to be Mexican nationals, with no criminal history. And we especially want to see young children, women and the elderly on these planes," he said. "As we arrest people throughout the day, we do the interviews and see if they will volunteer to go."
Among the 94 people on Friday's first flight were 87 men and seven women, including seven passengers treated for injuries after being caught. Two were seen boarding the plane on crutches.
Garza did not have estimates for the cost of Friday's flights. A total of $14.2 million is budgeted for the 226 flights this year.
The effort is worth it even if some migrants plan to return, said the head of Mexico's National Immigration Institute, Magdalena Carral.
"You can't try to save money when it comes to saving lives," she said. "One life is worth it."
But she also noted the program "is not the solution. It is only a stopgap measure," and that a "legal avenue of recourse" for migrant workers was needed.
Summing up the whole experience, Raul Aguilar Alvarez, of Guanajuato, said, "I'm happy to be back, but I feel like a failure."
Free ride home ping.
It's only costly if they aren't given parachutes and pushed out of the back end of a C-130.
So why aren't they flying on a US carrier?
Yes my little Illegal pets, GO HOME! You are not wanted in the USofA, They need to travel to criminal master Fox Vincente and tell him to create jobs for his own people or they will tar and feather him.
"You can't try to save money when it comes to saving lives," she said. "One life is worth it."
Easy to say when it isn't your country's money being spent. Why doesn't Mexico spring for the air fare for its own citizens?
If the Border Patrol is truly serious about saving lives, said Hoover, "let's go out and get the rest, and do it in a cost-effective and comprehensive way." He called for cell phone towers in remote areas and water stations on federal, state and tribal land.
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What is it with Liberal-pretzel-logic, where they think the way to discourage something is to make it easier to do?
You are right. If we are going to use air transport, let's send them to Tierra del Fuego (southernmost tip of south america).
It will take them that much longer to get to our border again. :)
Apply tax on mexican products imported for the cost that have been spent for sending the illegal immigrants back to Mexico. This will force the government of Mexico to strengthen border patrols wanting to avoid pressures from Mexican firms.
The Navy has a bunch of old troop transport ships. Load them on, and transport to the SOUTHERN tip of Mexico. Drop them off on the beach and repeat the ride
Good idea.
Excellant question.
I am so sick of this be-nice-to-the-illegal-alien crap I could scream. My God! What is happening to my country?
They just take the FREE ride home and find themselves back over the border.
While our govt is flying these 154 guys home, 3,000 more are crossing the border. It is ridiculous.
LOL to all! This is so "catch-and-release" it's bizarre. I can't believe this is happening at our relatively small airport.
Insane.
Why don't we load our politicians onto those planes?
The Mexico - Guatemala border.
Ping. It would have been nice for our parents and relatives to get such perks, wouldn't it?
kennedy wrote:
We need to release them at the Mexico border.
The Mexico - Guatemala border.
--While we got them in the air, why not drop them off in Columbia or Venezuela?
I forgot, drop them off with parachutes, no need to stop.
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