Federal immigration authorities loaded 133 migrants into an airplane headed for Guatemala. The agents expelled the migrants under the CDC’s Title 42 health protocol that is expected to end on May 11.
The removal operation took place this week at the Harlingen airport where agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Air Operations had three buses with migrants moved to the tarmac and patted down each individual before boarding them up in the plane.
The migrants were all being sent to Guatemala under Title 42 expulsions, an ICE official told Breitbart News. The migrants were in handcuffs as authorities checked them before boarding them on the plane.
An ICE official explained to Breitbart Texas that the restraints were a precaution during the flight, however, once they arrived in Guatemala they were removed. During the flight, migrants are able to use the restroom and when the plane reaches an altitude of 10,000 feet, they are fed and given water.
While ICE regularly returns Guatemalans and migrants from many other countries, the same is not true for many Venezuelan migrants after Mexico began to refuse to accept them for Title 42 expulsions, Breitbart Texas reported. The exceptions began in the El Paso and Del Rio Sectors, a CBP source not authorized to speak to the media explained, and later expanded to the Rio Grande Valley Sector. By the end of April, Border Patrol began releasing hundreds of migrants per day into Brownsville and El Paso.
Following the policy shift, thousands of Venezuelan migrants per day began to cross into El Paso and Brownsville, Texas.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.