Tipsheet

Why the Border Is Still a Big Problem After Title 42

Julio Rosas
Julio Rosas  |  May 15, 2023 11:00 AM

DALLAS, Texas  — The massive surge at the U.S.-Mexico border that was predicted to happen at midnight going into Friday never happened. While illegal crossings remained at an all-time high throughout the week, the expected crush of people at that exact time did not take place.

There were a few reasons why that happened. First, the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety were the ones who denied entry to large groups of illegal immigrants at popular crossing areas, from El Paso down to Brownsville in the days leading up to Title 42 expiring. This caused confusion among the illegal immigrants because they had seen others cross in those same areas weeks before. How long that lasts depends on how quickly Guardsmen and state troopers are able to redeploy to new hotspots and stop them before they get a chance to turn themselves in to Border Patrol.

Another reason is migrants in Mexico deciding to keep trying to use the CBP One app. A Mexican and a Cuban told me they wanted to cross into the United States but did not want to risk being subjected to Title 8. They expressed their frustration with the app, saying it was constantly down, but, for now, they will keep trying to use it. When the app was rolled out to include more nationalities earlier this year, there was a drop in those countries being represented in apprehensions. But that did not hold because of the problems with the app and slots being quickly filled up when it was working, leading to people deciding to illegally cross into the United States.

The last reason is the Mexican government, surprisingly, taking step to stop illegal crossings at some areas along our southern border. A Border Patrol source in Yuma, Arizona said the number of illegal crossings had lowered a bit because the Mexican military and police doing deterrence for the migrants, but added those operations do not last longer for more than two weeks.

Even with the current lull, the border crisis still rages. The same source in Yuma said only two agents were assigned to patrol 70 miles of the border. Normal numbers for the same coverage in non-crisis times is at least 18 or more. Migrants are also still making their way through Mexico and Latin America to reach our southern border.

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Overcrowding at U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing centers is still a big problem. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) provided photos to Townhall showing a room rated to hold 90 people having over 400 single adult males.

Mass releases into the United States are still ongoing. On my flight out of El Paso, over half of the passengers were processed and released migrants. I have flown out of border towns many times during the crisis and that was highest ratio I have experienced in a long time.