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The US on Friday ended COVID-19 border restrictions that have kept many migrants at the border with Mexico, immediately replacing the Title 42 order with sweeping new asylum regulations to prevent illegal crossings.
But several last-minute court actions have added to the confusion over how the new border policy will play out in the coming days.
Just before Title 42 is set to expire at midnight on May 11, immigration advocates represented by the American Civil Liberties Union filed a legal challenge to the new asylum bar, claiming it violates US law and international treaties.
Advocates argue the new regulations, enacted by Democratic President Joe Biden to curb illegal crossings, resemble restrictions issued by his Republican predecessor, former president Donald Trump. Rights groups successfully blocked Trump’s rule in court and asked a California-based judge to block it as well.
Marsha Espinosa, a spokeswoman for the US Department of Homeland Security, defended Biden’s regulations, saying they “seek to discourage migrants from using legal channels” instead of crossing the border illegally.
Chaotic scenes unfolded as migrants struggled to enter the country on Thursday before Title 42 expired and the new rules took effect. The regulations consider most migrants ineligible for asylum if they pass through another country without seeking protection elsewhere, or if they fail to use legal channels to enter the US, which Biden has added.
A perilous journey
Thousands of migrants have crossed rivers, scaled walls and skirted embankments on US soil in recent days, hoping to be processed before midnight.
Some migrants surrendered to border officials. Others tried to cross undetected.
In Matamoros, Mexico, a group crossed the Rio Grande River in chin-high water on Thursday afternoon. Some carried small babies and bags of goods above their heads to enter Brownsville, Texas.
In El Paso, Texas, hundreds of migrants camped on the streets of downtown trying to find their next route after crossing the border from Juarez, Mexico.
More migrants – including families with young children wrapped in Mylar blankets – await processing as they are written between two border walls in San Diego, California, across from Tijuana, Mexico.
Shelters housing migrants along the southern U.S. border are preparing to admit people as the nation’s Title 42 immigration policy expires. Authorities are urging people to enter the U.S. legally, but an already strained system is struggling with cases.
Trump first implemented Title 42 in March 2020 when COVID-19 was spreading around the world. Health officials said at the time that the message was aimed at preventing the spread of the virus in crowded detention facilities. This allows US authorities to quickly deport migrants to Mexico or other countries without the opportunity to apply for US asylum.
But Democrats, public health experts and immigration advocates see it as an extension of Trump’s efforts to block migrants at the border.
Biden, who campaigned to reverse Trump’s policies, kept the 42 titles in place and eventually expanded.
Record the number of migrants
Migrants have been deported more than 2.7 million times under Title 42, although the total includes many repeat crossers.
Mexico generally accepts only certain nationalities – its own citizens, many Central Americans and more recently migrants from Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti. So at the same time, about 2.8 million immigrants who are ineligible for deportation are allowed to enter the United States under a process known as Title 8 to pursue their immigration claims in court, which can take months or years.
Even before Title 42 expired, along with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, the Biden administration was grappling with record numbers of migrants at the US-Mexico border, troubling US authorities and border towns.
Republicans fault Biden for undermining Trump’s more restrictive policies. Biden blamed Congress for not passing comprehensive immigration reform.
‘Borders not open’
But with the new asylum rules in place, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other Biden officials are trying to spread the message that illegal crossers will face consequences, sending troops and thousands of additional personnel to borer.
“Don’t believe the lies of smugglers. Borders are not open,” Mayorkas said in a statement.
Some migrants who spoke to Reuters on Thursday said they had heard it would be more difficult to enter the country after May 11 and were rushing to cross before the deadline. Daily arrests have increased by more than 10,000 this week and detention capacity is at maximum capacity.
Due to the large number of arrivals, agents on Wednesday began releasing some migrants without notification to appear in immigration court where they can make an asylum claim, telling them to report to the immigration office later. But late Thursday, a federal judge in Florida blocked the release, saying it failed to follow proper regulatory procedures.
US Customs and Border Protection called the decision “dangerous” and said it “will lead to unsafe overcrowding” at border facilities.
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