With Key Immigration Policy Set to End, States Brace for Migrant Surge
Summary from the AllSides News Team
With the Title 42 immigration policy set to expire within days, border states are bracing for a surge of migrants.
The Policy: Title 42 is a part of U.S. law allowing the federal government to take emergency action to keep diseases out of the country, and has been used to immediately expel unauthorized immigrants amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It's send to expire on Dec. 21, but outstanding legal challenges could extend it.
On the Ground: Average daily border crossings in El Paso, Texas rose from 1,800 in October to 2,400 this month, and many area shelters are over capacity. Since March 2020, Border Patrol has turned away immigrants roughly 2.4 million times, and in fiscal year 2022, Border Patrol agents arrested an all-time-high 2.1 million unauthorized migrants at the southern border.
Key Quote: The immigration system is "about to break in a post-42 world unless we take some responsibility," California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called the issues a "direct result of 2 years of inaction from the Biden Admin." El Paso Deputy City Manager Mario D'Agostino called current migrant levels "unsustainable, and that is with Title 42 in place."
How the Media Covered It: Right-rated outlets often frame the border crisis as a product of the Biden administration's unwillingness to reinforce immigration protocols. Left-rated outlets often focus more on how the policy works and concerns that migrants must be fed and housed.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
California Braces for Unprecedented Wave of Migrants at the Border
California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned this week a long-expected flood of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border into the United States could “break” the state.
He visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 12, nine days before the anticipated end of Title 42, which is set to expire on Dec. 21. The policy, created as part of the Public Health Service Act in 1944, was triggered by former President Donald Trump to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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“Welcome to the United States!” a young man in the middle of the Rio Grande shouted to the hundreds of migrants arriving at the border from shelters in Juárez on Sunday night. “You made it!”
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Officials are preparing for the end of Title 42, a public health policy born of the pandemic that allowed border officials to turn away migrants at the border to curb the spread of COVID-19. But daily crossings haven’t stopped and shelters in El Paso are at capacity.
The sector’s Border Patrol facility is maxed out, too.
More than 5,600 migrants remain in Border Patrol custody — in a facility suited to hold just 3,000 people. Customs and Border Patrol officials have warned that ending Title 42 could lead to a further influx of...
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