New Mexico officials, immigrant advocates decry Florida-funded operation that moved migrants

Jun. 6—The migrants' stories were similar: A stranger came forward and offered a free plane ride to California, a job, housing — a new life in the U.S.

For some of the Latin American asylum-seekers who had agreed to board private flights from New Mexico to California late last week and early this week — approached about the deal as they were in El Paso awaiting a sign of hope — the offer was a Florida-funded ticket to a dead end.

"These people made perilous journeys to arrive in the United States, and to be used as pawns for God knows what reason is very dehumanizing," said Imelda Maynard, a legal director for Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services in El Paso.

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