Up to 40,000 migrants amass at border as end of Title 42 looms: sources
Up to 40,000 migrants have amassed on the Mexican side of the border waiting to cross into the US and officials are worried about the chaos they could cause when Title 42 ends next month, law enforcement sources tell The Post.
Migrants in Juarez, Mexico, are getting tired of waiting or being duped by internet scams into thinking they will be given asylum in the US and hundreds a day are again crossing into El Paso and surrendering to border agents.
“We have intel that there’s between 10,000 and 40,000 people waiting to cross over,” a police official who did not want to be named told The Post of the swelling number of migrants amassed directly across the border.
“We know something is coming, and we’re always preparing for what if a couple thousand of those people waiting there just get antsy or they’re like, ‘Today is the day.'”
Over 750 migrants surrendered to Border Patrol agents in one massive group Wednesday afternoon, the US Border Patrol told The Post.
Additional migrant surrenders continued Thursday, with hundreds more people surrendering to border patrol — making the tasks of processing and ejecting them an enormous job for Border Patrol.
Migrant groups as large as 1,000 people have been turning themselves in to officials in Texas’ sixth largest city since late March, fueled by fake information spread on social media by drug cartels, who would prefer them to pay to be smuggled over the border.
“The cartels don’t make any money by migrants sitting around waiting for the CBP One appointment,” another source told The Post, explaining that the CBP One app is the legal way for migrants to claim asylum.
What is Title 42 and what does its end mean for US border immigration?
What is Title 42?
Title 42 is a federal health measure enforced by the US Border Patrol. It allows the agency to kick certain migrants out of the US and return them to Mexico. This includes asylum seekers, who under international law have the legal right to make an asylum claim in America.
Currently, migrants who cross the border illegally and who are from Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua or Venezuela are subject to Title 42 and could be sent to Mexico.
How did Title 42 start?
President Donald Trump invoked the law in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue the policy. The Trump administration made the case that keeping migrants out of the country would slow down the spread of infections and maintain the safety of federal agents encountering migrants.
What has happened with Title 42 under Biden?
When President Biden took over, he continued to enforce Title 42 with one important change from his predecessor. Biden said Border Patrol agents were only allowed to expel migrants from certain countries under his direction. That meant migrants seeking asylum from countries like Cuba and Venezuela could still seek asylum if they arrived at the border and stay in the US while their cases were decided in court — unless they had a criminal record.
What is happening with Title 42 now?
Title 42 is supposed to be a health policy, not an immigration law. It will end at 11:59 p.m. May 11, when the Biden administration ends all COVID-19-related policies.
Why is it controversial?
Many have called for the policy’s end, saying it’s illegal and that international law guarantees people the right to seek asylum.
Others, like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, warn that the southern border could see up to 13,000 migrants per day crossing with the intention to stay in the country when the measure ends.
What would the end of Title 42 mean for immigration into the US?
It’s unclear exactly how many people have been expelled under Title 42 because there have been scores of people who have attempted to enter the country numerous times and been rejected again and again, but the US Border Patrol said it made an all-time high of more than 2.3 million arrests at the border in the last fiscal year. Forty percent of people who were expelled from the country were ejected under the rules of Title 42.
US border officials have also launched a social media campaign to set the record straight.
“Large groups continue to turn themselves in at the border,” tweeted El Paso Border Patrol Chief Anthony Scott Good on Wednesday.
“We want to remind migrants that coming into the US between the ports of entry is illegal and those who do are subject to expulsion or removal.”
When hundreds of people cross over onto American soil at a time, the process of processing and then expelling them takes a few days, during which time they have to be housed and fed.
Due to the sheer numbers, Customs and Border Protection have been flying migrants from El Paso to other areas of the border, such as Laredo and San Diego to process and eject them.
This helps keep Border Patrol facilities in El Paso from being overrun and allows for more migrants to be returned to Mexico.
Migrants who can’t be expelled to Mexico are being deported back to their home country to keep them from attempting to cross into the US again, border sources told The Post.
Frustration is also growing among migrants who came to the border expecting to be allowed into the country, only to find they would not be under Title 42.
Many have spent months in Mexico hoping for change which will let them legally claim asylum — and decide to roll the dice on being among the very few who are allowed to stay in America.
“People are tired of waiting. They don’t have money and things are getting bad in Mexico — so much suffering,” one migrant told local reporter Judith Torrea on Thursday.
Border Patrol officials expect more large groups to “episodically” show up at the border barrier in El Paso until May 11, when Title 42 is expected to end.
The pandemic-area policy put in place by former President Donald Trump, allows the Border Patrol to quickly expel millions of migrants from certain countries to Mexico without allowing them to seek asylum in America.
Currently, Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Hondurans and Mexicans are subject to Title 42.
The Biden administration has proposed a new immigration rule that would require asylum-seekers to apply for protection in any country they travel through before they arrive in the US.
The rule is expected to take effect in May, and to last two years.
With so much confusion and changing laws, frantic migrants could storm any of the city’s multiple international bridges, a situation which has happened twice since March.
US authorities have been forced to shut down the Paso Del Norte Bridge, most recently on Monday.
Customs and Border Protection used concrete barriers, razor wire and a special border SWAT team to keep migrants from pouring over to the US side.
El Paso has been reinforced by hundreds of state troopers and Texas National Guard members since December when the city declared a state of emergency over the border crisis.
Some desperate migrants have started turning to criminal smugglers to get past the beefed up security and sneak across the border — going through dangerous sewage tunnels, hiking through border mountains or climbing over the 9-foot border barrier.
Those who successfully make it face even more peril in the hands of cartels — who often lock migrants in stifling vehicles, keep them inside stash houses in “deplorable conditions,” or get them caught up in sometimes deadly car chases with police.
“We’re expecting more deaths related to human smuggling,” the law enforcement source added.
