End of Title 42 Will Bring Flood of Undocumented Migrants to US Border
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Photo: Google
By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF
With the May 23 end of U.S. pandemic restrictions that have blocked migrants from entering the United States on health grounds, that country is facing a surge of undocumented immigrants entering from Mexico from 5,000 daily arrivals in February to about 18,000 a day late next month.
On Friday, April 1, the Joe Biden administration, through the U.S. Center for Disease Control, announced the it will end the restrictions imposed under Title 42 of the Public Health Act of 1944 during the presidency of Donald Trump, effective May 23.
Trump invoked Title 42 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, a move that was immediately met with skepticism by immigrant advocates, who believed it to be driven by political motivations.
But until now, Biden had continued to impose Title 42 because his administration has been unable to control an increasingly more chaotic southern border.
“We have implemented a comprehensive government-wide strategy to manage any potential increase in the number of migrants found at our border,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Since its implementation in March 2020, the United States has registered 1.7 million expulsions on the border with Mexico, although, according to experts, at least a third represented attempts to cross made by the same person.
With the elimination of Title 42, Mayorkas said, DHS is predicting a flood of 18,000 people arriving daily.
Given this situation, Mayorkas said Friday that the U.S. government had already deployed 600 additional agents to the border with Mexico and had increased its capacity to process requests for asylum, removal, transportation, shelter and prosecution in criminal cases.