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{{short description|United States–Mexico government program}}
{{MCN|date=July 2024}}
The '''Repatriation flight program''', officially named "Interior Repatriation Program", was a [[United States]] and [[Mexico]] government program destined to fly back Mexican citizens who had illegally crossed the frontier between the United States and Mexico to their home country for free.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/archives/2004_press_releases/072004/07122004.xml | title=Department of Homeland Security Begins First Interior Repatriation Flights | publisher=US Customs and Border Protection | accessdate=2007-10-24 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130171503/http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/archives/2004_press_releases/072004/07122004.xml | archivedate=2009-11-30 }}</ref>

[[Arizona]] taxpayers funded the program. It ran from July 12 to September 30 of 2004. It was a pilot program; other American states planned to develop similar programs. The total number of Mexicans repatriated was over 14,000.

According to [[United States Border Patrol]] officials, the program was created to help save the lives of those who crossed the [[desert]]. They were usually caught by border patrol [[police]] in southern Arizona towns or near the [[Sonora]] border, processed, and taken to [[Tucson International Airport]] for their flights back home.

The airplanes used in these operations were all [[Boeing 757]] [[Jet aircraft|jets]].

The program was ultimately stopped because of cost: tax-payers ended up paying US $15 million during the three-month trial period, amounting to US $1,000 for each passenger. According to the border patrol police, the program helped the number of [[immigrant]] [[death]]s around the [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]] area drop by 28 percent, but statistics showed that Arizona had a record number of immigrant deaths in 2004, with 171 dead persons accounted for.

Immigrants caught and flown back to Mexico would usually be taken back to [[Guadalajara, Jalisco]], or [[Mexico City International Airport]] in [[Mexico City]]. Despite the harsh conditions of travelling by foot from Mexico to the United States border, a survey run at Mexico's largest international [[airport]] by a North American [[List of newspapers|newspaper]] showed that 50 percent of those returned to Mexico by air would be willing to try to return to the United States illegally again.

==References==
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[[Category:Forced migrations in the United States]]
[[Category:History of Arizona]]
[[Category:History of immigration to the United States]]