High-level U.S. government officials told a conservative non-partisan watchdog group this week that young migrants who come into the country illegally are relocated to their chosen designation on commercial flights paid for by taxpayers. Another veteran official said the migrants are given “the gold glove treatment.”

Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told Judicial Watch that illegal migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border are given taxpayer-compensated government escorts. These personal guides wear civilian clothes to not garner attention.

The migrants wear red Health and Human Services (HHS) wristbands and receive priority boarding ahead of all passengers – including law enforcement personnel. According to Judicial Watch, “a seasoned Homeland Security agent with direct knowledge of the secret operations” called it “shameful and dangerous.”

Illegal migrants boarded planes in Texas and Arizona just this past week. One of the flights started in Harlingen, Texas, and went to Minneapolis. Another flight flew from Tucson to Salt Lake City.

The migrants appeared to be in their late teens and were escorted by HHS employees.

Labor personnel from “front-line” DHS agencies “have complained about the cost and security risk of flying illegal alien minors to any destination of their choosing with the U.S,” says Judicial Watch.

Moreover, DHS personnel had what was described as a “closed-door” meeting late last year with President Trump and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

According to a statement obtained from Judicial Watch:

It appears that the Trump administration has chosen to ignore the concerns of rank-and-file federal agents, instead opting to quietly extend the controversial Obama-era policy that relocates illegal immigrants to unsuspecting communities nationwide. It is known as ‘Catch and Release’ and frustrated DHS sources tell Judicial Watch the Trump administration is essentially facilitating the ongoing commission of a federal immigration crime despite its tough border security rhetoric.

Breitbart Texas reported in early December that Texas border migrant processing centers were hitting full capacity, according to Border Patrol agents stationed in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. Likewise, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials were reporting increasingly larger numbers of apprehensions of illegal migrants in South Texas.

Border Patrol Agent Chris Cabrera, in his capacity as president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) Local 3307, told KRGV reporters, “I get texts probably three or four times a week saying that the processing center down in McAllen is at capacity. It’s at a 1,000, 1200, 1300 and they’re having to shut it down where no more people can come in. So, we’re now having to send it back to the station.” In the August report from CBP, apprehensions of illegal immigrants along the southwestern border were up for the fourth straight month, Breitbart Texas reported.

The issue has only gotten worse since that time. In the first three months of the new fiscal year which began on October 1, Border Patrol agents are arresting illegal immigrants crossing the border at levels that rival Obama Administration years.

In December 2013, the number of migrants apprehended and determined to be inadmissible rose to 36,695. In the months leading up to the June 2014 report, those numbers would increase to 66,541. That number in December 2017 rose to 40,513, an increase of 3,818 over the same month in 2013.

Since the decline in apprehensions that fell in the first four months of the Trump Administration, the number of migrant families crossing the border illegally rose by 625 percent.

Judicial Watch says that catching and releasing foreign nationals “has provoked a surge in illegal crossings” “because there is no punishment to deter the lawbreakers.” Obama policies remain because agency officials from the Obama Administration remain.

In April 2017, Border Patrol agents apprehended 1,119 Family Unit Aliens (FMUA), Breitbart Texas reported. The number of FMUA apprehensions rose nearly every month since this low point to 8,121 in December, according to the Southwest Border Migration report released by CBP. This number represents an increase from April of more than 7,000 FMUAs (625 percent).

Breitbart Texas’ managing director and editor-in-chief Brandon Darby reported in 2014 that National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) sources revealed that illegal migrants were allowed to fly on commercial airliners without valid identification. “The aliens who are getting released on their own recognizance are being allowed to board and travel commercial airliners by simply showing their Notice to Appear forms,” said NBPC’s Local 2455 Spokesman, Hector Garza.

“This is not the CBP or another federal agency renting or leasing an aircraft, these are the same planes that the American public uses for domestic travel,” said Garza. “This just adds insult to injury. Not only are we releasing unknown illegal aliens onto American streets, but we are allowing them to travel commercially using paperwork that could easily be reproduced or manipulated on any home computer. The Notice to Appear form has no photo, anyone can make one and manipulate one. They do not have any security features, no watermark, nothing. They are simply printed on standard copy paper based on the information the illegal alien says is the truth.”

Several weeks later, Breitbart Texas reported that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) admitted that illegal aliens were being allowed to board planes using Notice to Appear forms received after entering the U.S. illegally.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Gab, and Facebook.