In the hours before the U.S. government lifts a COVID-19 immigration restriction called Title 42 on Thursday, migrants gathered on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border — with some rushing to cross ahead of tough new asylum rules that will replace the order.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has in recent days been holding up to 28,000 migrants at its facilities, far beyond its stated capacity and in what appeared to be a record, two federal officials requesting anonymity and the Border Patrol's union said.
The busiest border detention facilities are in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and two areas in Arizona, according to union head Brandon Judd.
This week, the number of people caught crossing illegally surpassed 10,000 per day. Judd said that, because of the volume of people arriving, agents are releasing some migrants without a notice to appear in immigration court, where they can make an asylum claim, and are telling them to report to an immigration office later.
On average, people are spending nearly three days in custody, Judd said. CBP did not respond to a request for comment.
In Yuma, Ariz., hundreds of migrants lined up in the chilly hours before dawn at a gap in the towering border fence, waiting to turn themselves in to U.S. agents.
Some, like 40-year-old Jovanna Gomez from Colombia, heard about the U.S. policy change and decided to try her luck crossing now.
"In my country, you hear that immigration will only be allowed until May 11, so we came racing against the clock," she said. "It wasn't easy."
What is Title 42?
Under Title 42, which has been in place since March 2020 and is set to expire at midnight, hundreds of thousands of migrants have been quickly expelled to Mexico.
But because Mexico only accepted the return of certain nationalities — mostly their own citizens and Central Americans, and more recently Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans — migrants from other countries have largely been allowed in to pursue their immigration claims.
That is set to change as U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is surging personnel and funds to the border while implementing the new regulation, which will deny asylum to almost all migrants who cross illegally. The measure will bar anyone who has passed through another country without seeking refuge elsewhere or who failed to use legal pathways to enter the United States.
The new regulation will take effect when Title 42 lifts, along with the declared end of the broad COVID-19 public health emergency on Thursday.
Top U.S. officials repeated a warning to illegal crossers. "Our borders are not open," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters at a White House briefing.
CBP acting commissioner Troy Miller reiterated in a statement that Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans that cross the southwest border illegally after the end of Title 42 will continue to be sent back to Mexico, which can accept a total of up to 30,000 migrants from those countries monthly.
The U.S. has opened up legal processes for migrants of those nationalities to apply for entry from abroad, in an effort to discourage people from coming to the border.
"As we have said many times, the border is not open to irregular migration. Individuals should not put their lives in the hand of smugglers, only to face steep consequences," Miller said.
U.S. border cities have struggled to shelter the new arrivals and provide transportation to other destinations. Far from the border, other cities say they are also struggling to cope, such as New York where Mayor Eric Adams temporarily loosened right-to-shelter rules because of strained resources.
Political finger-pointing
Florida's attorney general has gone to federal court to try to block mass releases of migrants into the United States after Title 42 ends.
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent who left the Democratic Party five months ago, criticized the administration on Thursday, telling reporters the president had failed to adequately prepare for the end of Title 42. She said small towns in her state have been struggling to transport arriving migrants with little access to resources like buses or shelters.
Republicans fault Biden, a Democrat running for re-election in 2024, for scrapping the restrictive policies of former president Donald Trump, a Republican seeking to win back the White House.
And Biden administration officials in recent days have escalated their attacks on Republicans, saying they failed to fix immigration laws or provide adequate border funds.
"I asked the Congress for a lot more money for the Border Patrol," Biden said on Wednesday. "They didn't do it."
Since Biden took office in January 2021, the country has seen a record 4.6 million arrests of migrants crossing illegally, although the tally includes many repeat crossers. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week showed that only 26 per cent approved of Biden's handling of immigration.
In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a fierce critic of the president's border policies, expanded a National Guard deployment this week "to help intercept and repel large groups of migrants trying to enter Texas illegally."
Some organizations are welcoming the migrants. In Yuma, Fernando Quiroz, a 50-year-old member of a volunteer group known as the AZ-CA Humanitarian Coalition, was pulling a wagon filled with water bottles to hand out to migrants awaiting processing in the middle of the night.
"The reason we are here is our faith, our compassion, our empathy for a lot of these individuals," Quiroz said. "We just want to be that friendly smile.
"Who knows what happens when they get on that bus?" he said. "This is just the first step of a very long journey."
