Florida has started to pay for plane tickets for certain unauthorized immigrants to self-deport, officials said this week, in what appears to be the first such program run in part by a state.
Unauthorized immigrants who are in custody and have no prior felony convictions may be offered direct commercial flights to return to their home countries as part of the program, which is a collaboration between the Florida Highway Patrol and the U.S. Border Patrol’s Miami sector.
The program is underway in law enforcement stations in West Palm Beach and Dania Beach, south of Fort Lauderdale, Madison Kessler, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said in a statement. The Border Patrol also confirmed in that the program is in effect.
On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that unauthorized immigrants could avoid being taken to the state-run detention center in the Florida Everglades named “Alligator Alcatraz” if they chose to self-deport. “We do have options for you to short-circuit that whole process if you’re here illegally,” he said.
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