Mexico flight not one deportees sought
By Antonio OlivoChicago Tribune
Sunday, February 15, 2009

CHICAGO -- The nondescript 737 jet taxied to the front of the runway line at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

Aboard the flight, 53 passengers stared out windows as their rising plane banked toward Mexico and their handcuffs glinted in the morning sun.


Alex GarciaChicago TribuneMario Barrados Rodriguez, 34, and 60 other illegal immigrants prepare to be deported to Mexico on a flight from Chicago last month.

This is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Flight Repatriate, a booming airline ferrying illegal immigrants out of the country.

Flying worldwide from O'Hare and 22 other airports, the so-called ICE Air planes transported more than 367,000 illegal immigrants out of the U.S. between October 2007 and last October -- a 26 percent increase over the previous fiscal year and 77 percent more than in 2006.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently called for ways to "expedite removal" of thousands more illegal immigrants. The directive surprised advocates who have been lobbying for fewer deportations while they build momentum to reintroduce immigration reform legislation in Congress by July.

On board Flight Repatriate during a recent trip to the border near El Paso, Texas, the passengers embodied the dashed dreams of deported immigrants everywhere.

Some fretted over U.S.-born children. Others stewed over U.S. residency applications filed years ago. On a flight where many passengers were convicted of other U.S. crimes, still more grappled with alcoholism and other demons that make them poster targets for arrest.

"I shouted to the police: 'Then kill me!'" Moises Rivera, 35, boasted about the January night he guzzled eight shots of whiskey and fell asleep in his car at a traffic light. In jail, he sobered up to realize he was heading back to Mexico.

Near him sat Felipe Rodriguez, who was pulled over for speeding. The sunken-eyed restaurant busboy was arrested after showing an Illinois state trooper a fake driver's license.

"I don't smoke; I don't drink," said Rodriguez, 55, describing himself as a bookworm. "My whole family is in Chicago and Indiana, where we were happy."

The flights from O'Hare leave twice a week. Cruising at 36,000 feet, the flight offered no movie. After 57 inmates were picked up in Dallas, some ate turkey sandwiches as they eyed the dozen ICE agents standing guard in the aisle or trading jokes up in the "first class" section.

Several contemplated what they'd do in the Mexican border town of Juarez, where warring drug cartels and other violence contributed to 1,600 homicides last year.

"If it's anything like Laredo (Texas), I'm outta there," said Roberto Rodriguez, 26.

Carried across the Texas border as a baby, the oil worker preferred speaking English in his thick twang.

Like others, Rodriguez has been deported several times. Each time, he said, "I walk right back across the border and tell them I don't have no ID. It works. If you talk to me, I don't sound illegal."

Turning to an incredulous ICE agent, Rodriguez added: "If I come over again, can you help me with my case?"

After applause for a smooth landing in El Paso, Texas, others walked into Juarez rubbing their freed wrists and formulating their own plans to sneak back.

After a few days, Roberto Rodriguez did try. He was caught near the Laredo border last week and is in ICE custody for the fifth time.


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