Decline in migrant travel cutting into Valley airport budgets

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HARLINGEN — The Rio Grande Valley’s airports are trying to offset revenue losses stemming from a drop in migrant travel.

In Harlingen, Valley International Airport’s revenues are down about 6%, with its $9.1 budget losing about $500,000 in revenue, with expenditures at $9.6 million, Bryan Wren, the airport’s assistant director of aviation, said.

“When we started the fiscal year, we were at break-even,” Wren said.

Now, he said, the airport’s facing a $500,000 deficit.

Officials are attributing much of the revenue decline to a drop in migrant travel since President Donald Trump took office in January.

“The immigrants used to come through our airport using facilities, coming through the terminal, buying tickets, going up north with family,” Wren said.

Most of the migrants traveling north were awaiting asylum hearings, he said.

After taking office, the Trump administration canceled the CBP One program, which allowed undocumented migrants to use a mobile app to submit information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection instead of waiting along a Southwest border port of entry, Rogelio Nunez, executive director of Casa de Proyecto Libertad in Harlingen, said.

“I call that collateral damage — big time,” he said, referring to the drop in migrant travel’s economic impact.

At Valley International, the number of outbound passengers dropped to 120,596 from January to March 2025, down from 133,369 during the same period last year, records show.

In Brownsville, Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport’s number of outbound passengers dropped to 36,512 from January to March, down from 47,139 during the same period last year, records show.

“There has been a drop since the administration change,” Gustavo Hernandez, an airport accountant, said. “The immigrant count from last year to this year is 6% down.”

At McAllen-Miller International Airport, American Airlines’ passenger numbers dropped by nearly 5% in January, about 16% in February and about 1.25% in March, records show.

Meanwhile, the airport’s United Airlines’s passenger numbers were up about 7.5% in January before dropping by about 24.5% in February and falling about 43% in March, records show.

In McAllen, an increase in the number of flights over the past year has boosted airport numbers. Carriers such as Delta Air Lines, Allegiant, Aeromexico and Volaris also serve the airport.

From January to March, records show the airport’s passenger numbers stood at 142,713, up from 140,483 during the same period last year.

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