HispanicBusiness

Thousands of illegal immigrants have been flown to Mexico under a plan to reduce migrant deaths in Arizona and discourage repeat crossings, authorities said.

The Mexican Interior Repatriation Program, now in its sixth year, flew 10,560 people to Mexico City during a 36-day span this summer, The Arizona Republic reported Monday. The figure is down slightly from 2008.

MIRP is meant to ensure the safe return of Mexican nationals found to be unlawfully in the Sonora, Ariz., desert region to the Mexican interior. Detained illegal immigrants who volunteered for the program were dropped off far from the border to discourage repeat crossings.

Once in Mexico City, migrants received bus fare to their home states. Most immigrants flown back this year were from the interior or southern states, including Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla and Veracruz, the Republic said.

The program is a bilateral effort of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of the Interior.

Migrant deaths in Arizona were up significantly this year, with 191 recorded through August in the Tucson sector, the busiest Border Patrol region on the U.S.-Mexican border. There were 32 more deaths than in the same period the previous year.