Border Patrol Flying Thousands Of Illegal Migrants To San Diego

Flights from Texas' Rio Grande Valley to San Diego were started on Friday - continuing three times a week indefinitely. Each flight will carry 120 - 135 people, according to the Border Patrol's interim San Diego sector chief, Douglas Harrison. Conservatively, that means at least 1,440 migrants per month, or 17,280 annually. 

ICE will decide whether to detain or release the families in San Diego. It has been longstanding practice to quickly release them into the community with notices to appear in immigration court. 

San Diego's Rapid Response Network - a coalition of civic and religious groups that help asylum-seekers with temporary shelter - will undoubtedly come under further strain. The network said that it would shelter migrants who are flown in from Texas, and that the influx of new migrants "underscores the urgent need for a permanent, long-term migrant shelter in San Diego."