[ad_1]
Overcrowding in South Texas border patrol stations has become so severe in recent days that US authorities have taken the rare step of using aircraft to relocate migrants to other border areas just to get started their treatment, according to three Homeland Security officials.
The first flight departed McAllen, Texas on Friday, transferring detainees to Border Patrol facilities in Del Rio, Texas. Daily flights are scheduled for the next few days, including two scheduled for Tuesday, according to officials who spoke on the inventory. anonymity to describe operations.
The flights are carried out by the United States customs and immigration services, but the detainees remain in the custody of the border patrol, officials said. Although ICE regularly uses aircraft to move detainees to its detention centers, it is very rare for border patrols to move recent arrivals from one part of the border to another to perform the usual reservation procedures.
[From the border, more frustrating immigration numbers for President Trump]
Domestic security officials requested the plane because the border patrol was urgently required to move single adults from the lower Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas. The agency is striving to make room for the large number of families and children who have crossed the border in significantly higher numbers in recent days, officials said.
The head of the US Border Patrol Carla Provost testifies at a Senate hearing about the border May 8 in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin / AP) One official said the US government had used planes because all available buses were already in use and the authorities needed all available transport options.
"This is by far the worst I have ever seen," said a former border patrol officer in South Texas who was not allowed to speak to reporters.
The number of people held in custody along the Mexican border has exceeded 5,500 people daily for several days, and the border patrol currently has more than 17,500 people held in detention cells and tent sites installed in car parks outside the stations, officials said. This represents a 30% increase over the end of March, when the authorities stated that border agents and their infrastructure had reached the "breaking point".
Tents were installed on parking lots outside border patrol stations in McAllen, Brownsville and Rio Grande City in the Rio Grande Valley to reduce overcrowding. Emergency tents for families were also erected in El Paso and Camp Donna, a military site in the Rio Grande Valley.
In order to reduce the clutter of detention cells, the Border Patrol has begun in recent weeks to release migrants directly from its custody, instead of waiting for ICE to recover them and detain them or release them.
But the sheer number of people who have crossed the border in recent days has weakened the organization's ability to treat families and children. Holding cells are filled with singles because they are of lower priority.
President Trump made a joke on May 8 when a supporter at his Florida rally reportedly suggested that migrants crossing the southern border be shot. (Reuters)
The border patrol will use the flights to transfer a portion of these adults to Del Rio, where facilities are less crowded, instead of having to proceed with releases, officials said. Each flight costs $ 16,000 and can carry approximately 135 adults.
Homeland Security officials view the direct release of adult adults as a red line, as they argue that the demographic group has the most potential to be deterred by law enforcement efforts.
Carla Provost, head of the Border Patrol, told lawmakers on Wednesday that the authorities "would lose control" of the border if they were to start releasing single adults, as this group is the last demographic group that can be arrested and deported quickly.
"What worries me the most is that we will no longer have any consequences and we will lose control of the border," Provost told members of a Senate security committee. interior.
Adults who arrive with children are usually released after a few days, by appointment with an immigration judge, as US courts have limited the length of detention of juveniles in immigration jails. Homeland Security officials said the model – which President Trump called "a boost" – is to blame for the rise of the border.
Authorities arrested 109,144 migrants along Mexico's border last month, the highest number since 2007. More than 60 percent of those arrested were families or children.
Interior Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan plan to travel Saturday to the Rio Grande Valley to visit the McAllen border crossing to call for a "Whole of Government" approach to deal with the crisis, according to a statement from DHS.
[ad_2]
Source link