http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php? ... patriation

See also http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-1594.html for related story

Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Migrant flights to Mexico might be resumed
A federal department is looking for a contractor to operate the flights and related services.
CLAUDINE LoMONACO
Tucson Citizen

The Department of Homeland Security is apparently taking steps to restart a costly program begun last year to return illegal immigrants to their hometowns in Mexico instead of releasing them to nearby towns across the Arizona border.

The department will not confirm the resumption of the flights, but a notice on its Web site last week said it is seeking a contractor to fly up to 300 people a day from Tucson to Mexico.

The notice called for a firm to operate charter flights, provide for on-flight medical and security services, and supply buses and staff to help Mexican officials unload and transport the deported migrants.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mario Villareal would not comment on the announcement, except to say the department was still discussing the flights with Mexican authorities.

The purpose of the program was to move migrants out of the Arizona's dangerous terrain, Villareal said. Arizona is the most popular, and deadliest, crossing area along the Southwest border.

The federal government has tried several repatriation programs.

In September 2003, the Border Patrol ran a "lateral" program that flew migrants from Arizona to Texas, where they were expelled into Mexican border towns. The three-week pilot program transported more than 6,000 migrants at a cost of more than a million dollars and garnered the criticism of Texas lawmakers, who said the flights only shifted the problem into their back yard.

Last year, as a part of the Arizona Border Control Initiative, a $28 million attempt to reduce illegal immigration in Arizona, the Border Patrol worked with the Mexican government to fly migrants to the interior of Mexico. From July through September, the voluntary program returned more than 14,000 migrants at a cost of $15 million, or a little more than a $1,000 per migrant.

Border Patrol officials called last year's program a success and pointed to a drop in heat-related deaths in targeted areas such as the Tohono O'odham Nation. According to Border Patrol statistics, however, overall migrant deaths went up to 172 from 151.

"It's a major embarrassment to the United States that so many people die every year trying to cross our border," said national Border Patrol union president T.J. Bonner, who called the repatriation flights a costly, futile effort. Migrants will keep coming until the government cracks down on the employers that hire them, he said.

"It shows you how powerful business interests are in this country," Bonner said. "If they say they want cheap labor, then they'll get it. Even if it means hundreds of people die crossing the border each year trying to find work."