U.S. Starts Flying Migrants Caught Crossing Northern Border South to Texas

As migrants cross illegally into the U.S. from Canada at historically high levels, U.S. officials have begun flying migrants apprehended at the northern border south to Texas.

To date, at least two flights — one on March 13 to Harlingen, Texas, and another on March 21 to El Paso — have departed from Plattsburgh, New York, carrying a total of 82 migrants expelled under the Covid ban known as Title 42 {snip}

“Individuals will receive final processing at CBP [southwest border] facilities,” said a CBP spokesperson. “All of these individuals were recently apprehended by [the U.S. Border Patrol] after crossing the northern U.S. border. These transfers are done to decompress facilities and better utilize resources and personnel.”

{snip}

The flights come as the number of illegal border crossings in the Swanton Sector of the U.S. border, which covers New Hampshire, Vermont and a portion of northern New York, has surged over the past five months to nearly 10 times its level during the same time period last year, according to CBP data.

From Oct. 1 to Feb. 28, about 2,000 migrants were apprehended crossing the border illegally in the Swanton Sector, compared to just 200 crossings in the same period the previous year.

According to border officials and local law enforcement, most of the migrants crossing into the Swanton Sector are from Mexico. {snip}

{snip}