TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The U.S. government is halting flights home for Mexicans caught entering the country illegally in the deadly summer heat of Arizona's deserts.
It's a money-saving move, ending a seven-year experiment that cost American taxpayers nearly $100 million.
More than 125,000 people had been flown deep into Mexico for free since 2004.
The flights became a key piece of Border Patrol enforcement in Arizona as the agency moved to end its revolving-door policy of taking migrants to the nearest border crossing.
The Border Patrol hailed the flights as a way to discourage people from trying their luck again. But with arrests at 40-year lows and fresh evidence suggesting more people may be heading south of the border than north, officials have struggled to fill the planes. They've also found the costs increasingly difficult to justify. Flights carrying up to 146 people were cut to once from twice daily last year. And this summer, there haven't been any.
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APPHOTO MXRF108: Selbin Medina Castillo, right, and Melvin Javier, join dozens of immigrants, many of them Mexican citizens, as they gather in sleeping quarters at a well known immigrant shelter, as many are making tough decisions on whether to try their luck at trying to make it to the United States, by illegally crossing the border, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, in Nogales, Mexico. The U.S. government has halted flights home for Mexicans caught entering the country illegally in the deadly summer heat of Arizona's deserts, a money-saving move that ends a seven-year experiment that cost taxpayers nearly $100 million.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) (10 Sep 2012)
<<APPHOTO MXRF108 (09/10/12)>>
APPHOTO MXRF105: Dozens of immigrants, many of them Mexican citizens, gather in sleeping quarters at a well known immigrant shelter, as many are making tough decisions on whether to try their luck at trying to make it to the United States, by illegally crossing the border, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, in Nogales, Mexico. The U.S. government has halted flights home for Mexicans caught entering the country illegally in the deadly summer heat of Arizona's deserts, a money-saving move that ends a seven-year experiment that cost taxpayers nearly $100 million.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) (9 Aug 2012)
<<APPHOTO MXRF105 (08/09/12)>>
APPHOTO AZRF103: Illegal immigrants prepare to enter a bus after being processed at Tucson Sector U.S. Border Patrol Headquarters Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. New strategies being implemented by the U.S. government, including the halting of one-way flights back to the interior cities in Mexico, are in place to streamline processing and expedite a return to Mexico.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) (9 Aug 2012)
<<APPHOTO AZRF103 (08/09/12)>>
