[1/6] Migrants, transferred from Plattsburgh, New York to El Paso, Texas, disembark from a plane at the airport, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. March 21, 2023.
U.S. Border Patrol has quietly transported about 100 migrants this month on two charter flights from Plattsburgh, New York, near the border with Canada, to the Texas cities of Harlingen and El Paso.
At the same time, asylum seekers have been crossing from the United States into Canada in record numbers, straining resources.
Gil Kerlikowske, a former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Border Patrol's parent agency, said he could not recall the agency using charter flights for migrants caught crossing from Canada.
"That's what caused more and more people to go to the northern border to cross into the United States," he said.