U.S. Sends Record Number of Inmates Back to Mexico

WASHINGTON — In the largest transfer of its kind, 83 Mexican citizens who were confined in U.S. prisons were turned over Wednesday to Mexican authorities to serve their sentences in their homeland, the Justice Department announced.

The transfer took place in a federal prison at La Tuna, N.M., near El Paso, and involved only Mexican citizens who volunteered to return to their native country, a Justice Department spokesman said.

Most of those who agreed to the transfer wanted to be confined closer to their families and/or wanted to be in a Spanish-speaking facility, the spokesman added. In addition, some of the prisoners may be released from custody in Mexico.

The transfer was not the first of Mexican citizens to Mexican custody, but previous transfers did not involve nearly as many prisoners. Arrangements were made by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and her Mexican counterpart, Atty. Gen. Jorge Cartizo, at a meeting in Mexico last October.

The 83 prisoners--a little more than 1% of the 8,000 Mexican citizens now in U.S. prisons--are the first to be transferred under the agreement. Another 22 Mexican citizens who have agreed to serve their time in Mexico will be going back shortly, the Justice Department official said.

While the transfers were justified on humanitarian grounds, the spokesman said, each prisoner going back to Mexico will save the U.S. government about $21,000 a year, or a total of $250,000 for the first 83 returnees.

A U.S. magistrate in La Tuna examined each of the 83 prisoners to confirm that they were returning voluntarily, the spokesman said.

The agreement did not envision a “swap” for American prisoners held in Mexican jails, the spokesman added. He said he did not know how many Americans are confined in Mexico for criminal offenses.