HOUSTON ,Texas–140 illegal immigrants were transported via plane to San Diego and then bussed to a federal housing facility in Murrieta, California. But things didn’t go exactly as planned–a large crowd of angry U.S. citizens protested the migrants’ arrival, which prompted agents to instead transport the illegal immigrants to a different facility.
The immigrants arrived in Murrieta around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, according to KESQ.
A large group of angry citizens were there waiting for the buses, many waving the American flag–some held signs, one of which allegedly said, “Return to Sender.” The protesters physically blocked the buses from entering the housing facility.
Eventually, the migrant-filled vehicles turned around and headed back to San Diego, according to reports.
KESQ reported that Murrieta Mayor Alan Long expressed concern and irritation over the shipment of immigrants to his county on Monday. He said, “This is a failure to enforce federal law at the federal level. Murrieta continues to object to the transfer of illegal immigrants to the local Border Patrol office.”
On June 4th Breitbart Texas broke the news that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was relocating illegal immigrants from Texas to Southern California. Within moments of that story being published, the official Twitter account of the San Diego CBP tweeted at Breitbart Texas Managing Director Bradon Darby insisting the report was “erroneous” and asking for it to be removed from the internet.
Days later–after National Border Patrol Council Vice President Shawn Moran came to Darby’s defense–the San Diego CBP deleted the tweet from their official account. Subsequent reports, outlining plans to fly immigrants to Southern California, proved CBP had indeed planned the relocation.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a statement on Monday, “U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s El Centro and San Diego sectors are about to begin assisting with the processing of migrants apprehended in South Texas, many of whom are adults with children.”
The federal agency went on to say that the illegal immigrants “may be released with instructions to report to a local ICE office near their destination address within 15 days.”
Victor Manjarrez–a professor at the University of Texas El Paso, former Chief Patrol Agent of Tucson Sector, and former Chief Patrol Agent in El Paso Sector–told Breitbart Texas, “Once [the immigrants] get processed, because there are not enough holding facilities, they’re scheduled for a hearing sometime in the future. They promise to show up then get released. They then [often] call up relatives in Central America and tell them they got released.”
He said that ultimately, a lot of the migrants never go to court–many end up being forgotten about by authorities or get “lost in the woodwork.”
At this point, it is unclear how the border crisis will be handled–especially as U.S. citizens are fearful of the migrants’ impact on their local communities.
Breitbart Texas reported earlier in the week that the illegal crossers have already taken a toll on Hidalgo County, Texas. In just two weeks, since June 13, the county’s taxpayers spent $68,000 on the illegal immigrants. Expenses subsidized by the county include hot showers and transportation.
Follow Kristin Tate on Twitter @KristinBTate.
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