Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing for a “historic” surge of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, with the number of those arriving anticipated to triple. This comes as the Biden administration ends Title 42, a provision that allowed Border Patrol agents to deny entry and expel migrants to stop the spread of COVID-19. The policy will end May 23 after it was put in place by former President Donald Trump at the onset of the pandemic.
According to a report from Fox News, ICE’s juvenile coordinator wrote in a filing in a case on family detention that the agency is “preparing to utilize its limited resources to respond to a historic border surge, with projections forecasted to triple current arrivals.”
The agency added that it is seeing “border enrollments” ranging from 1,000-2,000 per day.
"Given these forecasts and the recently announced decision to end Title 42 next month, ICE must shift its focus and prepare to manage its resources for a population of up to 600,000 by the end of the fiscal year," the official reportedly said.
“ICE’s predictions are the latest acknowledgement by the Biden administration of fears expressed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress that the lifting of the order, combined with a seasonal increase in number, will lead to an overwhelming number.,” Fox News noted. “There were more than 221,000 migrant encounters at the border in March, and CBP has been encountering about 7,000 migrants a day -- DHS has said it has been planning for up to 18,000 migrants a day.”
Julio covered this week how the Biden administration has doubled-down on ending Title 42. When President Joe Biden was asked about delaying the end of the order on Thursday, Biden confusingly brought up the public transportation mask mandate the Department of Justice (DOJ) is trying to reinstate, which is not related to Title 42.