SAN DIEGO — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has stopped charter flights to San Diego carrying migrant families who were caught entering the country illegally.
Border Patrol started the program in May amid a surge of crossings in the Rio Grande Valley - overwhelming a Texas processing facility. The agency then flew up to three planeloads of family units a week to San Diego. Agents would then process migrants at one of seven local Border Patrol stations.
All were considered non-criminals because, while entering the U.S. anywhere other than a designated port of entry is illegal, the Department of Justice was not prosecuting the cases.
The exact number of migrants flown into San Diego is not publicly available. Border Patrol said 120-135 people were on board each flight when the program started. However, larger capacity planes were used during the summer. News 8 estimates 3,784 people were flown to San Diego on 28 flights between May 14 and August 3.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimated each flight cost up to $60,000. Agents considered expanding the program to several other cities, including Buffalo, Miami and Detroit because those cities had excess processing capacity, but ultimately decided only to fly migrants to Del Rio, Texas, and San Diego.
Once processed locally by Border Patrol, migrants were turned over to ICE. In most cases, families were given a court date and then released within a few days to a migrant shelter that would send them to sponsors across the country. None were returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols, which requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their hearing.
CBP statistics show a decrease in apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley as the summer progressed. In July, flights slowed to twice a week before ending on August 3.
Border Patrol told News 8 the program has not been cancelled and could resume if the need arises.
