The Biden administration released a plan Tuesday to deal with an expected increase in already high numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico ...
The Biden administration released a plan Tuesday to deal with an expected increase in already high numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border due to the planned lifting of a public health order that has kept people from seeking asylum - and that Republican and some Democratic lawmakers insist should be kept in place.
A memo from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas outlines a more robust effort to enforce U.S. immigration law without the use of Title 42, which was invoked at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
The plan is to add 600 members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. There would be additional transportation and medical support as well.
'When the Title 42 public health Order is lifted, we anticipate migration levels will increase, as smugglers will seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable migrants,' Mayorkas warns in a memo that comes a day before he is to testify to Congress on an issue that has become a potent element in Republican political messaging.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas released a plan to send 600 Customs and Border Agents to the border for an anticipated crush of immigration when the administration plans to lift Title 42 authority May 23
The plan includes increasing the number of personnel in the border region from Customs and Border Protection and other federal agencies, expanding detention capacity with the use of temporary facilities and aggressively deploying a process known as expedited removal to deport migrants who do not qualify for asylum or some other relief under U.S. law.
The agency is planning for increased capacity by May 23, with 18,000 non-citizens in CBP custody.
That is an increase from 13,000 in early 2021.
The administration says it will comply with a court ruling if a judge issues a temporary restraining order, Axios reported.
It also relies on new Department of Homeland Security initiatives intended to streamline the evaluation of migrant claims, such as the deployment of asylum officers to the border to help determine whether someone should be granted temporary legal residency until an immigration court rules on their case.
Unmentioned is the fact that a court could soon order the government to reverse course and halt plans to lift Title 42 on May 23 because of lawsuits filed by Republican-led states.
Senate Republicans are acting to try to force the administration to keep the policy in place, likely by attaching it to a COVID relief package that the administration desperately wants.
Senate Minority Mitch McConnell told reporters, 'I think I'm safe to say Senate Republicans are going to insist on having an amendment to Title 42. This is extremely important. The border is already entirely too open. Pulling back the Title 42 authorities will only make it dramatically worse. And so I want to make it clear to you and to the majority leader that we'll need to have Title 42 vote at some point here, in all likelihood on the COVID package.'
The administration has said without the new funds, it won't be able to secure purchases of upcoming coronavirus drugs being developed.
A Mexican smuggler guides a Haitian family across the Morelos Dam over the Colorado River from Los Algodones, Mexico, on Feb. 4, 2022, to Yuma, Ariz., on the other side
Members of the Texas National Guard are stationed along the Rio Grande River where U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy leads a congressional delegation visit to the southern border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. April 25, 2022. The Biden administration is planning to send an additional 600 Border Patrol agents for a planned lifting of a public health order
U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pauses as he addresses the media during a congressional delegation visit to the southern border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. April 25, 2022. Republicans have pounded the Biden administration for the planned lifting of Title 42 in May
On Monday, a federal judge in Louisiana said he would issue an order limiting the administration´s ability to prepare but left specifics of the settlement to the federal government and the states.
U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays, a Trump appointee, has scheduled a hearing on May 13 in the lawsuit by Louisiana and 20 other states seeking to keep Title 42 authority in place. Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have also urged the Biden administration to continue the order for now.
Migrants have been expelled more than 1.8 million times under the rule, which was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Donald Trump.
Advocates for asylum-seekers support the end to the rule, which they say endangers people fleeing persecution back home and violates rights to seek protection under U.S. law and international treaty. The states challenging the administration say the U.S. is not ready for a likely influx of migrants resulting from the rule´s end, straining public services.
It comes amid what the administration concedes are historic numbers of migrants attempting to cross the border due to factors that include economic and political turmoil in Latin America, as well as a backlog of people hoping to seek asylum.
The increase in migrant encounters is also due in part to Title 42 itself.
Immigration authorities stopped migrants 221,303 times along the Southwest border in March, a 33% increase from a month earlier, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
But many of those encounters were people coming back after being removed under the public health authority. CBP said the number of unique individuals encountered nationwide in March came to 159,900, still high but significantly below the total.
Biden administration officials argue that the use of expedited removal is more of a deterrent because people subjected to it are inadmissible for five years and can be charged with a felony if they attempt to return to the country. Under Title 42, there are no legal consequences and many people simply turn around and come back.
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