US resumes fast-track deportation flights of Central American migrant families

The United States on Friday resumed fast-track deportation flights for migrant families that recently arrived at the US-Mexico border, amid a sharp increase in the number of migrants at the southern border.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement the flights would transport Guatemalan, Honduran and Salvadoran migrant families, who could not be immediately expelled under a coronavirus-related public health policy and did not have a legal basis to stay in the country.

"We aremaking clear that those who do not qualify to remain in the United States will be promptly removed," the statement said.

Migrant crossings typically taper off in the hot summer months, but arrests at the southern border rose in June to the highest level since April 2000. The tally in July is expected to be similar or even higher, according to two border patrol officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Immigration, and particularly the arrival of asylum seekers at the USsouthern border, has been a hot-button issue for decades. Multiple attempts to reform USlaws and create a pathway to citizenship for the millions of immigrants living in the country illegally have failed in Congress.