Title 42 has been in place at the U.S.-Mexico border since the onseet of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago. With the virus no longer posing the threat the world as it once did, it appears the last enforcement tool favored by Border Patrol agents during a historic surge of illegal crossings may be going away.
Title 42 is designed to quickly expel illegal immigrants caught at the border to prevent overcrowding at holding facilities so individuals do not spread the virus amongst each other and to the agents. Title 42 has been heavily criticized by open border advocates because they say it denies people the chance to claim asylum. They also say it doesn't work to deter illegal crossings since the rapid expulsions has resulted in people crossing multiple times.
Under the Biden administration, Title 42 has not been applied to unaccompanied minors and many family units. The removal of Title 42 could come as soon as April.
"Once Title 42 goes away, we are going to get flooded with illegal crossings, much like what happened when the Migrant Protection Protocols was first canceled then altered. Hopefully this administration will learn from the last debacle that they need to have a plan in place before they start making drastic changes," Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, told Townhall.
One Border Patrol source in the Yuma Sector said their area would see an increase of encounters on top of what they are already seeing but this time the single adult men would no longer be Title 42'd. The source predicted the nearby Tucson Sector would also see an increase of illegal immigrants willingly giving themselves up to Border Patrol instead of trying to avoid arrests by being smuggled on I-10.
Even while Title 42 remains in place for now, the holding facilities in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, the Del Rio Sector, and the Yuma Sector are overcapacity and Border Patrol has been forced to do mass releases into their respective areas.
Another 300+ group of migrants have arrived in Eagle Pass, with other massive groups on the way. With the NGO in the area being overcapacity, they will ultimately be released into Eagle Pass.
— Rep. Tony Gonzales (@RepTonyGonzales) March 28, 2022
Catch-and-release is a devastating reality in our border communities. pic.twitter.com/QuG7LSDxkv
So how many people could potentially be allowed to remain in the U.S. while pursing their asylum claims? According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, so far in fiscal year 2022, 426,819 illegal immigrants were expelled under Title 42. A majority, over 200,000, were from Mexico, with the rest originally coming from the Northern Triangle countries. While the Biden adminstration has been forced to follow the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the Remain in Mexico policy, it has been accused by sources within Border Patrol of slowing-rolling the program by not admitting more people into MPP to wait in Mexico.
Because there are reports of thousands of people in Mexico waiting for Title 42 to be removed, Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, along with Rep. Tony Gonzales wrote a letter this week to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to keep Title 42 in place until they can come up with a better plan to handle the expected influx of people once the authority is removed.
"We understand that this legal authority is temporary and tied to the COVID-19 public health emergency, but DHS appears unprepared to handle a likely unprecedented increase in apprehensions along the southwest border," they wrote.
"At the current levels of cross-border migration, DHS currently lacks adequate capacity to process and detain all migrants apprehended along the southwest border… Furthermore, small border communities lack the appropriate housing, transportation, and healthcare infrastructure to manage the ongoing release of migrant populations into their jurisdictions."