Certain immigrants are subject to immediate expulsion from the US under Title 42, but Mexico determines which migrants are deported and sets quotas for how many they are willing to take in each area of the border.
The Mexican government has significant influence over US Border Patrol, resulting in millions of dollars being spent on charter flights to deport migrants
To prevent facilities in busy crossings like El Paso from being overwhelmed, Border Patrol flies migrants to less busy parts of the border. Public flight records indicate that multiple flights have been departing from West Texas each day since late March to checkpoints across the southwest. It is estimated that the cost in April alone was at least $1.2 million.
Although migrants from Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and El Salvador are subject to Title 42, not all are treated equally on the border. Despite President Biden‘s announcement that citizens of four countries would have to apply through an app and have their papers in order before being admitted to the US, shelters in El Paso are stretched to their limits housing people from those countries, and many said they had been allowed to cross without proper documentation.
The cost of these flights, however, is unknown, and federal officials have not responded to requests for information. Sources say each flight costs between $20,000 and $60,000. Once migrants are processed by Border Patrol, their vital stats are recorded, and Customs and Border Protection have a record of how many times a person has attempted to cross the border.
Repeat offenders are deported further, including back to their home countries
Mexican authorities have also been known to flex their muscles, refusing to take Venezuelans from Border Patrol and requesting that Venezuelans who had crossed into the US directly north at El Paso not be returned to Juarez after a March 27 blaze started by a Venezuelan migrant ignited a mattress in his cell in a Ciudad Juarez immigration detention facility. The incident became an international disgrace after an investigation revealed a Mexican immigration official ordered guards not to release migrants who then died locked in smoke-filled cells. In the days after the fatal inferno, thousands of scared migrants surrendered themselves to Border Patrol, leading to further charter flights to deal with the influx.
Title 42 is set to expire next month, and multiple border sources say they are already bracing for a tidal wave of thousands of people attempting to cross. Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales has criticized the State Department for being “missing in action” in dealing with the issue.
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