Sterry Butcher of the Big Bend Sentinel in Marfa has an excellent piece today about the new DHS plan to re-route illegal immigrants captured in Arizona through the Big Bend. 

Tuesday was the third day of the program and the Presidio office of Mexican Conul Hector Raul Acosta Flores was busy. Upon their arrival in Ojinaga, detainees are offered a bus ticket back to their place of residence, whether it’s in Chiapas or Chihuahua.

“The federal Mexican government has the intention to support their needs to return to their residence,” Acosta said.

Critics of the Border Patrol’s repatriation plan worry that the detainees may stay in Ojinaga, or try to cross illegally into the United States at Presidio. So far, all the detainees have taken advantage of the government’s bus ticket offer.

700 immigrants a week will pass through Presidio as part of this program. 700! That’s about fifteen percent of the population of Presidio. As the Sentinel reported last week, it’s also equivalent to the number of BP agents currently assigned to the Marfa Sector.