Busing Aliens Called Too Costly

An internal memo evaluating the controversial trial program of busing illegal aliens from the San Diego area to the tiny Arizona border town of San Luis concluded that it deterred illegal immigrants from re-crossing the border but that it is too costly to be resumed soon, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) said Friday.

“It’s a tough call whether we’ll do it again,” said John Belluardo, a spokesman with the INS regional headquarters in Los Angeles. “The program is a deterrent, but we don’t have the resources to pay for gas, bus drivers and deportation officers to go on the trips.”

For two weeks in May, U.S. Border Patrol officials sent two busloads of illegal aliens daily to San Luis, which has a population of about 3,000. The Border Patrol also bused illegal aliens to nearby Andrade, Calif., a town of about 800. The program’s intent was to discourage illegal aliens from re-entering the United States.

City officials in San Luis, who were not consulted about the busing, were furious that they had been chosen as the end point for the program.

Belluardo said he doubts the INS will resume the program before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. “It’s a worthwhile program, but we have no plans to continue it on a regular basis. That doesn’t preclude that we won’t ever have it in the future.”