Thread: Interior Deportations Resume, Migrants Will Be Flown Back

http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 90348/1001

Thursday, June 9, 2005

Interior deportations resume
Migrants to be flown to Mexico City

Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times

A program that sends deported undocumented immigrants from Arizona to Mexico City will return for its second year this summer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday.

The interior repatriation program replaced an unpopular deportation program that sent migrants to El Paso and then Juárez in 2003.

"Returning illegal aliens to the interior of Mexico allows us to disrupt the inhumane and often callous human smuggling organizations that operate along the border area," Customs and Border Protection commissioner Robert C. Bonner said in a news release.

The program is to begin Friday in conjunction with Mexican authorities in an effort to help bring more control and prevent deaths along the busy Arizona-Mexico border, U.S. officials said.

About 300 migrants a day will be flown from Tucson to Mexico City. Only Mexican migrants are eligible for the flights.

Mexican migrants could voluntarily return to Mexico City on charter planes flown from Tucson, officials said.

In Mexico, buses will take them closer to their homes, they added.

Participants will not be separated from family members. And if the entire family does not want to participate, then no one in the family will participate, officials said.

Generally, Mexican immigrants caught along in the U.S. border are returned to the other side of the border within hours. The migrants are then able to regroup for another attempt to cross the border.

In 2004, the interior repatriation program replaced an unpopular 2003 program, which shuttled more than 1,600 immigrants caught in Arizona to El Paso and released them into Juárez.

The 2003 lateral repatriation program had planes with 150 undocumented immigrants caught in Arizona arriving every two days in El Paso, where they were released into Juárez. Some of the deportees had never been in Juárez before and faced a large, unfamiliar city.

The budget for the pilot program last year was $12 million to $13 million, officials said, The budget for this year's efforts was not available.

The program will continue to be evaluated and monitored by the Mexican and the United States governments.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

Migrants to be flown to Mexico City

Participants will not be separated from family members. And if the entire family does not want to participate, then no one in the family will participate, officials said

What exactly does this paragraph mean I wonder? Shouldnt it read:

Participants will not be separated from family members. And if the entire family does not want to participate...we remind them of the laws of this Country, and off to Mexico they ALL go.

Greyparrot, as I was reading this article, that same sentence jumped out at me, and I scratched my head. I reread it , and said, "What?" What does this mean.

Originally Posted by greyparrot

Participants will not be separated from family members. And if the entire family does not want to participate, then no one in the family will participate, officials said

What exactly does this paragraph mean I wonder? Shouldnt it read:

Participants will not be separated from family members. And if the entire family does not want to participate...we remind them of the laws of this Country, and off to Mexico they ALL go.

It means that 'family vacation packages' are available as an added bonus. It's like, they have a round-trip ticket to visit each other back and forth.