Biden administration considers flying migrants to border states as it struggles to cope with surge

A volunteer, right, welcomes a group of at least 25 immigrant asylum seekers in Brownsville, Texas

Credit: John Moore /Getty

The CBP has also deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement aircraft to transport families from the Rio Grande Valley, where facilities are under severe pressure, to the western Texas border town of El Paso.

Once they have been processed, many migrants, including families, are then returned to Mexico under a Trump-era public health order introduced at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Title 42 order allows border officials to expel many of those who surrender at the border to prevent the virus from spreading, although critics accused the Trump administration of using it to further restrict immigration into the US.

The Biden administration has kept the order in place and expelled almost 60 per cent of families that arrive in January, and 40 per cent of those who arrived in February. However it is coming under increasing pressure to halt the policy and reverse the expulsions.