Posted on 06/29/2004 9:55:08 PM PDT by television is just wrong
Posted on Tue, Jun. 29, 2004
U.S., Mexico OK Plan to Fly Illegals Home
SUZANNE GAMBOA
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Mexico has agreed to take part in a program beginning July 12 that will provide free flights home for illegal Mexican immigrants arrested in the Arizona desert, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Officials hope the program will both reduce deaths in the Southwestern desert and the attempts by illegal immigrants to enter the United States.
Mexico agreed in mid-June to the program announced this month by the Homeland Security Department.
Under the agreement, the voluntary "repatriation" plan would end no later than Sept. 30, the agency said Tuesday.
Asa Hutchinson, the Homeland Security Department's undersecretary for border and transportation security, said the program would save lives "by safely returning Mexican nationals to their homes, away from the dangers of the Arizona-Sonora desert where smugglers and the harsh summer climate contribute to the deaths and injuries of illegal border crossers."
In the fiscal year that ended last Sept. 30, 154 immigrants died in the Arizona desert.
Increased enforcement on other parts of the border have shifted illegal immigrant smuggling operations to Arizona. Some immigrants who are apprehended and deported at the border reconnect with smugglers there and make multiple attempts until they are successful.
The agreement allows illegal immigrants arrested in Arizona's Sonora desert region to volunteer to be returned home via charter airplane from Tucson, Ariz., to Mexico City or Guadalajara. The immigrants then will be returned by bus to their hometowns. Immigrants who live in northern Mexico will be given other options.
William Strassberger, Homeland Security Department spokesman, said the program's estimated cost is $12 million to $13 million, which will be paid by the United States. He said many immigrants will want to return home because of the harshness of their journey and exposure to the desert.
"Many of them have spent several days crossing a desert with blast furnace temperatures, struggling to get through," Strassberger said.
Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, a supporter of tougher border enforcement, said he supports the effort, but he expects few people to volunteer for the program because they won't want to be so far from the border.
"You have to ask yourself how many of these folks will be willing to start the (journey) over again ... If they go into the interior, they're going to have to pay another coyote (smuggler)," said Tancredo, a Republican.
The lateral repatriation program last year moved 6,000 Mexicans from Arizona to the Texas border cities. Mayors of those cities balked, saying the government was shifting Arizona's problem their way. Mayors of the cities on the Mexican side complained that the migrants were dumped, often without money for food or a bus ticket home.
The countries agreed to the following:
_ Mexicans will be returned home in a safe, humane and dignified manner. Homeland Security officers will not handcuff or restrain Mexicans unless warranted in individual cases. Those charged with a crime, excluding illegal entry, are ineligible.
_ The program is only available to Mexicans.
_ Migrants who tell immigration officials they want to be returned to Mexico will be referred to the Mexican consul. Mexico plans to increase its consul staff in Arizona.
_ The Mexican consul will interview the migrants and confirm they have asked to be returned to Mexico's interior.
_ Those who decline will be deported by way of a port of entry on the U.S.-Mexican border
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On the Net: Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov
What's wrong with the bus.
It's again and again and again and.....
I'm sure only first class will do.
Of course first class. Would we pay for anything less?
How about a guided hike through the desert to the border?
That's what I was thinking.
Do they get dinner and a movie, too?!
Probably, I guess it depends where the departure is. Maybe just honey roasted peanuts, and a drink.
"The agreement allows illegal immigrants arrested in Arizona's Sonora desert region to """volunteer""" to be returned home via charter airplane from Tucson, Ariz., to Mexico City or Guadalajara. The immigrants then will be returned by bus to their hometowns. Immigrants who live in northern Mexico will be given other options. "
How many of those folks will want to go back?? This is a stupid program.
We going to pay for the bus ride back to the border also? I welcome Mexicans that are here legally but these people are breaking our laws. I suggest a 6 month prison sentence (male or female) first.
Aeroméxico thanks the U.S. taxpayer for their generosity.
Hey, I have a better idea; How about we declare war on Mexico? When the people of one country come into another offensively what is it called again? Oh yes, an invasion. An act of war. Excuse me but the word "illegal" means what again? Either annex Mexico or declare war. To do neither is to continue to allow this country to be attacked offensively, to allow the will of the people to be violated. Anyone who disagrees with that should then just open your door and allow anyone to enter your apt. or house. You don`t know who they are? You don`t know if they`re crazy? Hey, tough..It`s OK since you agree with your country being invaded.
No plane flights - catapults.
We array a large number of catapults along the Mexican border and fling Senior Fox's fifht columnists back to Aztlan. Maybe, if they are nice, we give them a parachute.
Not even a drop in the bucket. I'm so sick of these bandaids being applied to a massive hemorrhage. I'm surprised that Tancredo is soft-peddling this.
Some time ago, in mulling over possible Final Solutions to the Mexican Immigrant Question, I decided that the best deterrent would probably be to drop a few confiscated Mexicans off... from 3000 feet over Mexico City... with a metal tag attached to each one explaining in 3rd-grade Mexican, exactly where and when in El Norte the person formerly inhabiting the now-splattered remains was apprehended.
I figured that *that* might get The Average Mexican In The Street to decide (assuming that the returnee didn't land directly on him/her, at least) that maybe it was a good idea not to stray across the border in such a casual fashion.
But like I said, I have a (politically incorrect, culturally insensitive, reactionary, etc. etc.) Bad Attitude...
(Anyone from DUh reading this, PLEASE post it on DU so I can watch all your wailing fruitcake cohorts over there go ballistic over it... I LIVE for that...) (Notice I said "Final Solution" - *that* oughta get their undies in a wad... Last time I said "Social Cleansing", and they were screaming for hours over there...)
And, in an ironic twist, have the catapults assembled in Mexico! :D
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