Thread: U.S. to spend $6 million flying illegal immigrants back to M

Another Government Waste Program

U.S. to spend $6 million flying illegal immigrants back to Mexico

August 26, 9:52 AM
Mesa Independent ExaminerChristina Wijfjes-Smit

Daniel Gonzalez, of the Arizona Republic, reported yesterday that this summer the United States will spend $6 million flying illegal immigrants, caught at the border, back to Mexico. During the summer months, heat and exposure claim the lives of hundreds of illegal immigrants. The Repatriation Program was designed, six years ago, to reduce that number.

Last year the Repatriation Program cost the United States $13.5 million and no the Mexican government does not contribute. The effectiveness of this program is in question by some humanitarian groups that track migrant deaths. Geoffrey Boyce of the Tucson based, No More Deaths said, “If it has an effect at all, it's marginal.â€

Opinion
US program slows revolving door of illegal immigration
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.26.2009
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We were pleased to learn that humanitarian flights to Mexico for illegal immigrants have begun again this year.

We have often argued that a comprehensive immigration-reform program — including strong border security, a guest-worker program and a pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants who are working and paying taxes in the United States — must be a priority for this country.

But a humanitarian approach to deporting noncriminal illegal migrants is also an imperative.

The alternative — dumping exhausted people across the border, far from their homes, with no money or local contacts — is emphatically inhumane. Abandoning them across the border also may tempt them to make another crossing attempt.

The Interior Repatriation Program began its sixth year on Saturday with two flights carrying 221 people from Tucson to Mexico City, according to a story by the Star's Brady McCombs. The voluntary, two-flights-a-day program will run through Sept. 28 and cost an estimated $6 million, he reported.

The idea is to prevent repatriated migrants who are stranded in Mexico from falling into the hands of smugglers who would put their lives at risk during the hottest summer months.

McCombs reported that some 60 percent of illegal immigrants apprehended in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector come from states south of Mexico City.

Those who opt to be flown to Mexico City are transported to their hometowns by bus.

Most of them apparently then stay put. About 10 percent of the 18,500 illegal crossers who took the flights in 2008 were caught later trying to cross again. That's well below a repeat crossing rate as high as 72 percent in the Tucson Sector, McCombs wrote.

The program started this year a month later than in the past, a delay caused by logistics issues resulting from the change of administrations in Washington, officials said.

This program isn't cheap and, according to McCombs, there is no evidence that it has had a direct significant impact on border smuggling or desert deaths. Deaths have increased each year since the flights started in 2004.

Still, as Beatriz Lopez Gargallo, Mexican consul general in Nogales, Ariz., told McCombs, "If it saves one life, it justifies the program."
We agree.

These people came into our country illegally, but those who are eligible for the Mexico City flights have committed no other crimes.

Our country must grant them their humanity — it is the right thing to do.
There is no legal and certainly no moral reason for the United States to treat them otherwise.

We're glad to see the program is back in the air this summer.

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/306341

Still, as Beatriz Lopez Gargallo, Mexican consul general in Nogales, Ariz., told McCombs, "If it saves one life, it justifies the program."
We agree.

These people came into our country illegally, but those who are eligible for the Mexico City flights have committed no other crimes.

Has Mexico put one dime toward this program? Or are they just PO'd that their remittances are down?
People did not come to the country illegally as their only crime. That was just the start: there is document fraud and working when they are not supposed to, just for starters.

Lou ran this story on his show last night. What a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Wasn't there a story about a week to 10 days ago about Mexican border towns complaining they couldn't afford the influx of deportees and even suggested the USA send them farther south?

I guess if Mexico asks, we DO!