Concerns over spike in migrant crossings

A new Department of Homeland Security report confirmed by NewsNation sources says that after Title 42 expires next month, migrant encounters could spike by a factor of two or even three times what they are now.

Title 42, the COVID-19 provision used to expel many undocumented migrants who illegally cross into the U.S, is set to expire in May.

In the month of January, immigration authorities had about 154,000 migrant encounters. In February, there were 165,000.

In March, immigration authorities stopped migrants 221,303 times along the Southwest border, a 33% increase from a month earlier, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

Local and state officials believe they could be seeing more than half a million migrant encounters per month once Title 42 goes away. This is on pace to surpass the two million encounter benchmark that was hit last year.