US, Mexico complete trial of flying deportees home

The U.S. and Mexican governments have completed a two-month program to fly deportees deep into Mexico, and the U.S. is looking to the new administration of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on whether to continue the effort aimed at relieving overwhelmed Mexican border cities.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said 2,364 Mexican nationals flew on 18 flights during the trial period, all but three of them men. Nearly 2,000 had criminal convictions in the U.S.

The flights from El, Paso, Texas, to Mexico City were not voluntary, unlike a previous program to deport Mexicans arrested by the Border Patrol during Arizona’s deadly summer heat.

Two days before leaving office last week, then-Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa said Mexico’s new administration would work with the U.S. government on whether to continue.