Scores of undocumented migrants dropped off in Arizona

Migrants are released from ICE custody at a Greyhound Bus station in Phoenix May 28, 2014. The Border Patrol says about 400 migrants were flown from Texas to Arizona because of surge in migrants being apprehended in Texas. This group was from Texas.(Photo: Michael Chow/The Republic)

(by Daniel González, The Republic, AZCentral) – Scores of undocumented immigrants from Central America have been released at Greyhound bus stations in Tucson and Phoenix over the past several days after they were flown to Arizona from south Texas. Authorities flew 400 people suspected of entering the U.S. illegally to Arizona over the weekend and released them at bus stops because detention facilities were full after a surge in migrants, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

Andy Adame, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Tucson, confirmed that over the weekend federal officials flew about 400 migrants apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to Tucson to be processed. He said the migrants were flown to Arizona because the Border Patrol does not have enough manpower to handle a surge in illegal immigrants in south Texas.

The release has drawn criticism from those on both sides of the immigration issue. Many Republicans in Congress and some state lawmakers say the federal government is not doing enough to secure the U.S. southern border, while a number of groups push for policy reform to allow the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants in the country to obtain a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

Border enforcement groups are concerned that the migrants will now disappear into the U.S., spurring even more to come illegally.

“This is a huge concern,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for more immigration and border enforcement.  “This is exactly the incentive for people to cross the border illegally,” he said.

Humanitarian groups are concerned that immigration officials are dropping migrants off at bus stations to fend for themselves without food, water and basic necessities.

“It’s not safe healthwise and we are concerned for their physical safety,” said Cyndi Whitmore, a volunteer with the Phoenix Restoration Project, an advocacy group that has been going to the bus terminal in Phoenix to help.

She said that Tuesday night she went to the Greyhound station on Buckeye Road and found 50 women and young children who had just been released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Among the children were infants 6 months old. “Some of the kids were crying,” Whitmore said. “Some were infants that weren’t fully clothed. They didn’t have diapers. They didn’t have formula.”

Laurie Melrood, a volunteer family advocate in Tucson, said ICE has been dropping off small numbers of migrants at the Greyhound bus station there for about seven months. But on Monday, she said, ICE dropped off about 70 people, followed by another 90 on Tuesday and at least 60 on Wednesday. She said all of the migrants dropped off this week were women and children. In the past, most were adult men and women. Over the past month, detention facilities in Texas overflowed with migrants for the first time as a large influx of Central Americans crossed the border into the Rio Grande Valley, said Andy Adame, the U.S. Border Patrol spokesman in Tucson, Arizona.

In response, volunteers in Phoenix and Tucson have been going to the bus stations to help the migrants make arrangements to buy bus tickets to travel to relatives in other cities. They also have been providing food, water and other necessities.

South Texas is now the main gateway for illegal immigration along the Southwest border with Mexico. Border Patrol arrests in the Tucson Sector have plummeted in recent years but have soared in the Rio Grande Valley. Last fiscal year, Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector apprehended 154,453 immigrants attempting to cross, up from 97,762 the previous year, according to USA TODAY.

Many people who cross the border illegally from Mexico are quickly returned by the U.S. Border Patrol, but those from Central America and other regions are supposed to be transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) so they can be flown home.

ICE officials said the migrants being released are families apprehended by the Border Patrol trying to enter the U.S. illegally. After screening, they are being released under supervision and then required to report to a local ICE office near their destination within 15 days.

Their cases will be managed based on ICE enforcement priorities, which focus on removing criminals who pose a threat as well as recent border crossers and immigration violators.

But Mehlman at FAIR said that once migrants are released, they often disappear and ICE doesn’t go looking for them unless they have criminal records.

ICE officials said the agency began transporting migrants to the bus station in Phoenix after Greyhound officials complained the station in Tucson was being overwhelmed.

In response to criticism, the agency started giving migrants sack lunches and allowing them calls to make travel arrangements.

ICE was unable to confirm if all 400 migrants flown to Arizona were released.

Adapted from an Arizona Republic article with some information from a Reuters article.  For educational purposes only.  Visit the websites at AZCentral.com and Reuters)