The U.S. and Mexico want to send illegal migrants from the U.S. directly to their hometowns, not simply expelling them from the U.S. to Mexican border areas.

  BY LISA J. ADAMS
  Associated Press

  MEXICO CITY - The United States is working on a pact with Mexico to deport illegal migrants to their hometowns instead of dropping them off at the border, an effort to prevent migrant deaths and foil smugglers, top officials from both countries announced on Friday.

  In a news conference in Mexico City, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the United States hoped to start deporting migrants to their hometowns by the summer, when border crossings are at their highest and most dangerous. The new program mirrors a similar repatriation operation in place in the 1990s that was discontinued, and would only apply to migrants caught crossing.

  PRESENT PRACTICE

  Currently, illegal migrants detained in the United States are flown or bused to the border and sent across to Mexico. Mexican border towns have complained that they are being flooded with people who have no money or places to stay, and U.S. officials say the practice simply encourages migrants to cross again.

  During his two-day visit to Mexico, Ridge also signed an agreement with Mexican Interior Secretary Santiago Creel to increase security along the border, including measures to improve surveillance, crack down on migrant smugglers and improve programs to warn migrants of the dangers of illegal crossings.

  Earlier, Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson indicated that Mexico fully supported the new deportation program, and Ridge said later: ``We will redouble our efforts to reach an agreement on repatriation by summer.''

  However, few details of the plan have even been worked out yet, and arriving at a final agreement may be difficult, given Mexico's concerns about sovereignty and migrant complaints about being sent all the way home.

  Broad differences between the two sides were evident Friday. Creel insisted that migrants not be forced to return home, saying: ``All we do in this has to be voluntary.''

  He added that Mexico would ensure that the agreement didn't violate the constitutional right of citizens to move freely within the country.

  Hutchinson said officials were considering making the program mandatory for migrants, although some could be given incentives to return home voluntarily.

  ''Unless there's some enormous breakthrough, involuntary [repatriation] will be the first step, something that we can more easily accomplish. But we'll have further
  discussions,'' Hutchinson said.

  HELP FOR BUSH

  He indicated that both the repatriation program and increased border security could help garner support for President Bush's proposed guest-worker program, which would give temporary visas to migrants with U.S. jobs.

  Bush's program is ''going to have rough sailing, unless the members of Congress and the American public understand that we have the capability of securing our borders,'' Hutchinson said.

  The program's cost, which migrant corridors would be targeted, and how the United States will address Mexico's sovereignty issues have yet to be worked out, Ridge said.

  ''We have come a long way in the past six months just having these discussions,'' Ridge said. ``Both sides have made concessions.''

  He said the United States was willing to help pay for the migrants' flights home, though U.S. lawmakers have opposed such moves in the past, saying the flights cost too much.

  Ridge and Creel also said they were committed to seeking more effective methods to identify potential threats to airline security and to improve communication between security officials in both countries.

  Several flights from Mexico City to California were canceled recently because of U.S. security concerns, and the decision to ground them angered Mexican lawmakers.