Border Patrol halts Mexico flights

[No Elephants]

Sep 10, 3:37 AM EDT

APNewsBreak: Border Patrol halts Mexico flights

By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- The U.S. government has halted one-way flights home for Mexicans caught entering the country illegally.

It's a money-saving move that ends a seven-year experiment that cost taxpayers nearly $100 million.

More than 125,000 passengers were flown deep into Mexico for free since 2004. The Border Patrol hailed it as a way to discourage people from trying their luck again, and it appears to have kept many away - at least for a short time.

But with Border Patrol arrests at 40-year lows, officials found the costs increasingly difficult to justify. Flights carrying up to 146 people were cut to once from twice daily last year.

This summer, there haven't been any.

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