The Department of Homeland Security has begun transporting undocumented immigrant families to cities beyond the U.S.-Mexico border “due to capacity limitations” at border patrol stations, a Customs and Border Protection official confirmed on Friday. Since Dec. 21, the official said, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released roughly 180,000 migrants into the U.S. interior, transporting them by plane, bus or van from the border to other cities in Texas and Southern California. “Whenever possible, the releases have been coordinated with local non-governmental organizations,” the official told HuffPost. As of May 10, U.S. Border Patrol had apprehended over 500,000 undocumented immigrants along the southern U.S. border this year, the CBP official told HuffPost. The idea was apparently scrapped, and officials told NBC on Friday the government wouldn’t be targeting sanctuary cities with its decision to transport migrants away from the border.

Source: Huffington Post May 18, 2019 00:45 UTC