Border Patrol Ends Flights Carrying Central American Migrants To San Diego

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Two-year-old Adriana Ortez and her mother wait to board a bus leaving the city in McAllen, Texas. (AP2014)

SAN DIEGO – Border officials confirmed Thursday’s flight carrying migrants to San Diego was cancelled amid immigration activists’ demonstration downtown Wednesday.

A crowd of about 100 people performed a ritual Wednesday in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in downtown San Diego. Their prayers were for the well-being of the migrants who recently arrived from Texas.

The group prayed and stood in support of the women and children flooding the Texas border.

“It’s for the children, they’re innocent,” said a woman dressed in indigenous Azteca clothing.

This was a far outcry to last week’s protests in Murrieta, 65 miles north, where demonstrators demanded the migrants leave and be taken back to Texas where many of them crossed illegally.

Border Patrol spokesman Paul Carr told the Associated Press the agency has reduced its backlog in south Texas and is now able to process more migrants there. He said the wave of protests at Murrieta had nothing to do with the decision.

Carr did not rule out that the flights could resume but he said there are no plans now to do so.

Tens of thousands of migrants have shown up at the Texas border requesting asylum from their Central American countries, considered to be some of the most violent in the world.

At least 400 of migrants were flown to San Diego to relieve the surge in Texas.

Border Patrol union officials told Fox5 they believe the situation in Texas is improving.

The migrants brought to San Diego are slowly being released from the ICE building downtown, to await their day in court with an immigration judge that will either grant them asylum or order their deportation.