This week, 20,000 migrants were reportedly waiting for Title 42 to end so they could cross the border into the United States, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said this week.
Title 42 was scheduled to expire on Wednesday, Dec. 21. The order had been in place since 2020 that allowed Border Patrol to expel migrants at the southern border due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the New York Post, Leeser said on Monday that the shelters on the other side of the border were “completely full” as migrants awaited for Title 42’s removal.
“We’ve been talking to some of the partners in Mexico, and we’re talking also to the Border Patrol and those are the numbers that have been fed back to us,” Leeser said in a press briefing. “The shelters in [Ciudad] Juarez are completely full today, and they believe there’s about 20,000 people ready to come into El Paso.”
Reportedly, Border Patrol has used Title 42 to turn away thousands of migrants trying to enter through the U.S.-Mexico border since its implementation under President Trump in 2020 (via New York Post):
The Border Patrol has used Title 42 to expel about 40% of all illegal border crossers since it was implemented by former President Donald Trump in 2020. Even though it may not end this week, local leaders say they are continuing to prepare for a human tidal wave — with as many as 5,000 migrants a day attempting to cross the border.
El Paso is currently the epicenter of the border crisis, with more immigrants crossing there than anywhere else in the country, according to the US Border Patrol statistics. Since August, city resources have been strained as the number of migrants arriving in the city continued to rise.
Leeser issued a disaster declaration over the border crisis on Saturday, requesting help from the state and federal government so the city can set up a shelter, bus migrants out of the overwhelmed border community and get extra law enforcement.
El Paso is looking to set up “mass sheltering,” with the American Red Cross arriving in El Paso with 10,000 cots for people to sleep in. Local leaders are looking at options including using the city’s convention center and school district facilities as shelters.
Sarah reported this week that Leeser declared a Declaration of Disaster for El Paso because it could no longer keep its residents safe from the migrants planning to come through the border after Title 42’s end date.
In October, Townhall covered how El Paso ended its efforts to bus illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities and force Venezuelan immigrants back to Mexico.
A spokesperson for the city of El Paso told Reuters that the bus program was “no longer needed.” Reportedly, El Paso bused about 10,600 migrants to New York and 3,200 to Chicago since August, following the lead of GOP Gov. Greg Abbott (TX).