US quietly resumes deportation flights deep into Mexico
The United States has quietly resumed deporting some Mexicans on flights that carry them far from the southern border, U.S. and Mexican officials said, a move aimed in part at discouraging them from repeatedly trying to enter the United States.
The first flight to Morelia, a city in central Mexico hundreds of miles from the nearest U.S. border crossing, took off Tuesday with more than 100 Mexicans on board, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details.
A senior Mexican official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said flights were expected to continue regularly.
Tuesday's flight was the first of its kind in almost two years. US authorities are increasingly deporting Mexicans overland, near the border. But the number of Mexicans entering the United States has surged in recent months, prompting U.S. authorities to find stronger ways to discourage people from making the journey north.
The Biden administration is struggling to stem one of the largest waves of uncontrolled immigration in U.S. history, with people fleeing poverty, political instability and violence in Central America, South America and elsewhere. Last week, President Biden attempted to address a growing political liability by pleading with Congress to grant him the power to close the border.
The United States halted deportation flights for Mexicans in 2022 as officials turned their attention to the skyrocketing number of migrants arriving from countries such as Haiti and Venezuela.
But as a wave of deadly violence grips Mexico ahead of next year's presidential elections, more and more residents are fleeing. More than 56,000 Mexicans were apprehended by border agents in December, the highest number of Mexicans crossing the border since last spring.
“Mexicans are beginning to view security as an important issue for the presidential campaign,” said Andrew Rudman, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “So I suspect a lot of that is people feeling like they're not safe where they are.”
The flights are not just about deterrence. Mexican officials have requested the flights in the past so that migrants can be returned closer to their homes and so they can avoid crowded border towns. The flights also connect deportees to reintegration services, such as employment and shelter.
But migration experts and former immigration officials say the flights are also aimed at making it harder for people to cross again.
“The value to the U.S. is that it dramatically reduces the chance of someone returning unlawfully,” said John Sandweg, a homeland security official in the Obama administration.
The flight took place this week, a month after senior U.S. officials — including Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, and Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security — flew to Mexico City to strategize to slow the wave of illegal illegal activity. crossings.
In December, more than 11,000 migrants crossed the border on some days, a record.
The Obama administration struck a deal with Mexico in 2012 to deport Mexicans to the country's interior. The program, known as the Interior Repatriation Initiative, came about at a time when Mexicans made up the majority of migrants crossing the border and the number of crossings was low. significantly lower than today.
More than 46,000 Mexicans flew to the heart of the country between late 2019 and May 2022, according to Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights organization.