Border Crossing Is Being Stopped In Arizona: Mexican Border Protected
By Sara Fernandez on December 10, 2010, 7:51 am
The goal of the transfer program, according to Border Patrol officials, is to break the smuggling cycle in the Arizona-Sonora area. In the metropolitan area of Tucson, human smugglers abound, and illegal Mexican immigrants can easily blend into the population. Those conditions don’t exist in the rural, isolated areas of the Texas-Mexico border.
Transport Illegal Border Crossers Back
Under the program, the agency transports illegal border-crossers caught in Arizona to the Texas border and deports them back to Mexico. The Border Patrol first started the program in November 2009: Two buses per day, each loaded with up to 47 male illegal immigrants aged 20 to 60, were taken from Arizona to Presidio, where they were deported to Ojinaga, Mexico. The program generated heated resistance from state officials, including Perry, who worried about an influx of illegal immigrants, and from local officials, who said the remote area could not handle an onslaught of new people.
Program Starts Up Again
The Border Patrol put the program on pause last December because officials said illegal crossings in Arizona had slowed. They said they would use the break to review the program’s effectiveness. Now, almost a year later, the program is being restarted. But this time they will be transporting illegal immigrants primarily to Del Rio, a larger town than Presidio, and deporting them across the Rio Grande to Ciudad Acuña in Mexico.
Drug War
Mexico’s biggest single military drug war deployment last year — more than 10,000 troops at its peak in Ciudad Juarez — has so far failed to contain the spiraling violence. President Felipe Calderon this year launched programs aimed at rebuilding the city’s schools, parks and hospitals in recognition that the desperation that many young people feel fueled the violence.
Border Counties Coalition
The United States/Mexico Border Counties Coalition is a nonpartisan, consensus-based policy and technical forum founded to address challenges facing county governments located on the United States/Mexico Border. The elected officials from the twenty-four county governments located on the United States/Mexico Border established the Coalition. These county governments face unique challenges in serving their residents. The Coalition recognizes that notwithstanding the differences among the participating counties – some are large, some are small, some are urban and some are rural – there are a number of issues that are common to all Border Counties.
Related posts:
- Smugglers Are Creative When Crossing Mexican Border
- Is The Mexican Border Protected: Is The Government Really Helping
- Immigration Reform: States Join “Friend Of Court” Legal Filings
- Arizona Will Fight Immigration Reform Opponents To The End
- UT-SC-OK Drafting Similar Arizona-type Illegal Immigration Laws