As of 11:59pm ET on Thursday, Title 42 is no longer in place to allow the federal government to remove illegal immigrants, with the Biden administration instead saying it hopes to use Title 8 to conduct removals going forward...in some cases and up to a certain limit.
Given Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' comments in the hours leading up to Title 42's expiration — including repeated insistence that the "border is not open" — and the Biden administration's botched handling of border security, there's not much reason for optimism.
Title 42 has officially expired and it is no longer policy at the border for the first time in over 3 years. I am at the edge of the river in Brownsville at the major crossing area right now - and so far no rush of migrants. Just campfires from migrant camps across the river. pic.twitter.com/axPiWr4VzS
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 12, 2023
Townhall's Julio Rosas has been on the ground in El Paso for days, and on the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday night ahead of Title 42's end, documenting the dire situation as conditions in town continued to worsen.
On the bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, the Texas National Guard is blocking an area that has been a popular spot for illegal crossings. A group of migrants are waiting on the bank, deciding what to do. pic.twitter.com/aa1ZgCvDVf
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 12, 2023
As Julio noted, in Texas at least, members of the state National Guard and Department of Public Safety have begun actively blocking illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States once they reached the U.S. side of the Rio Grande River. So far, it seems to be helping stem the flow of unlawful border crossers.
One of my colleagues is across the river from me in Matamoros and says a moderate size group of 80-100 has formed and is considering crossing but is being told not to by TX soldiers on a megaphone on the U.S. side. Nothing crazy yet. pic.twitter.com/shtDI9WM9R
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 12, 2023
The National Border Patrol Union, however, warned that the worst of the expected surge of illegal immigrants is still yet to come.
Title 42 is now over. Nobody except the cartel thugs is prepared for what’s about to hit us.
— Border Patrol Union - NBPC (@BPUnion) May 12, 2023
In the past three days alone, federal agents along the southern border have recorded more than 30,000 encounters with illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S., setting a new record of more than 10,000 per day.
Drone footage captured after Title 42's expiration showed large groups of illegal immigrants amassed on the Mexican side of the border:
Title 42 has now officially expired as of midnight eastern. Here’s a look at the situation tonight near Gate 42 along the border in El Paso - big group of illegal immigrants waiting to enter. pic.twitter.com/P5EYtV2DSj
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) May 12, 2023
They, along with tens of thousands more reportedly making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border, are expected to attempt unlawfully entering the United States in the hours and days ahead.
The sheer number of illegal immigrants expected has state and local officials — as well as a half-heartedly interested Biden administration — scrambling to determine what to do with them.
Thanks to the administration's failed policies, holding facilities have been overwhelmed since well before Title 42 expired. Officials in cities as far away as New York and Chicago have been unable to handle the migrants transported to their jurisdictions, with the Windy City turning police stations into illegal immigrant housing and the Big Apple struggling to provide housing in hotels — an experiment that ended disastrously.
Now, with Title 42 gone, New York is considering turning entire swaths of Manhattan's streets into essentially open-air camps for illegal immigrants. Those closer to the border face the even more pressing question of just how many illegal immigrants will be in their communities 24 hours, one week, or one month after Title 42's expiration.
The Biden administration has, yet again, proven itself less than helpful for Americans and local leaders bearing the burden of his border policies' effects. As Townhall reported earlier this week, Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas explained that Americans should prepare for "large numbers of encounters at our southern border in the days and weeks after May 11" despite what the DHS secretary said was "nearly two years of preparation" for the expiration of Title 42.
Mayorkas insisted that the Biden administration's "plan" to handle even more of an illegal immigrant surge "will deliver results, but it will take time for those results to be fully realized, and it is essential that we all take this into account." How convenient. Just how much "time" might it take?
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was at the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville on Thursday night as Title 42 expired, and he called on President Biden to "go see this humanitarian crisis," one that is "his fault" and is "about to get worse."
I'm in Brownsville, seeing the #BidenBorderCrisis firsthand— this is his fault!
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 12, 2023
We already have the worst illegal immigration in the history of our country & it’s about to get worse.
Biden needs to stop hiding in the basement and go see this humanitarian crisis. #Title42 pic.twitter.com/HKJPv8NUKA
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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