On Tuesday, May 9th, the Biden administration told Americans to prepare for a “chaotic” period at the southern border now that Title 42 has come to an end. Title 42 is the name of a now-expired public health restriction that was first introduced by the Trump administration at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which allowed authorities to turn away migrants at the US borders to prevent the spread of Covid-19. It officially came to an end on Thursday, May 11th as Covid-19 was no longer declared a national emergency.
According to reports, agents have already been encountering historic levels of over 10,000 migrants a day in the days leading up to the public health restriction being lifted; and authorities are already preparing for the release of migrants onto the street without court dates and with no ability to track them. The Daily Mail reported on May 10th that there was expected to be an average of 13,000 crossings per day following the lifting of Title 42.
Texas National Guard is preparing for a huge rush of the border as title 42 is due to be lifted tomorrow, tens of thousands of people are piling over. pic.twitter.com/ucQQQXzKPR
— Deplorable4trump2024 (@PTRUMPFORTX2020) May 11, 2023
President Joe Biden Predicts Chaos At The Border
President Biden, 80, has ordered 1,500 troops to the border to help Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents deal with the surge of migrants. However, according to The Economist, several border cities in Texas such as El Paso and Laredo have already declared a state of emergency, with the pub suggesting that “result will be tough for migrants, and, assuming their numbers stay high, politically miserable for Mr Biden.”
When asked on Tuesday, May 9th if his administration is prepared to handle the end of Title 42, President Biden, who officially announced that he is running for re-election in 2024 last month, said, “It remains to be seen,” before predicting that the U.S.-Mexico border is “going to be chaotic for a while.”
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However, Biden reassured Americans that his administration was working hard to make the change as orderly as possible, and said he spent over an hour with Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday to try and make the change as smooth as possible. He told reporters that they were both "doing all we can" and praised the "overwhelming cooperation" from Mexico, while confirming that the U.S. is setting up asylum processing centers in Central American countries.
Biden made similar comments about chaos at the border the following day as he urged Congress to provide more funding. "Well, we've had chaos at the border for a number of years," he said, while boarding Air Force One, adding: "We have to fully fund the border security effort."
Homeland Security Secretary Appeals To Congress
President Biden isn’t the only one who wants Congress to step in, as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has also appealed to Congress for more funding and an immigration reform package, saying in a White House briefing on Thursday: "I have said for months and months that the challenge at the border is and is going to be very difficult. And we have spoken repeatedly about the fact that that difficulty may actually only increase at this time of transition. It is going to take a period of time for our approach to actually gain traction and show results."
The Biden administration has said it is ready to deal with whatever happens now that Title 42 has come to an end, but criticized Congress for not making changes to the country’s immigration system. "We believe we have a robust process to deal with what is going to occur after Title 42 lifts," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday, May 9th. "Again, we’re using the tools that are available to us because Congress refuses to do their job as it relates to the border."
