Vicky Arias, FISM News
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President Joe Biden admitted in a recent interview that it will be a “chaotic” time for the nation when the immigration policy, Title 42, ends on May 11.
Title 42, a public health measure initiated during the COVID outbreak, has been used since 2020 to restrict migration into the United States.
“It’s going to be chaotic for a while,” the president said.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are bracing for a major migrant surge in the coming days as a result of the policy’s closure, as a reported 150,000 migrants are headed toward the United States in anticipation of the loosened restrictions.
Many American border towns have invoked emergency status as they scramble to process large numbers of migrants.
According to statistics from the city of El Paso, Texas, “thousands of migrants from Latin America are gathering at or near the U.S.- Mexico border awaiting processing after Title 42 … ends.”
The city cites that “the number of migrants released into the community continues to grow, and has been as high as 1,700 in a single day.” The statement also said,
Secretary Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security … commented that he expects a surge of migrants into the United States after Title 42 ends … [and] the Mexican government estimates that approximately 15,000 [migrants] are now camped in Ciudad Juarez awaiting an opportunity to cross the border.
The influx of migrants can also be felt much further north. In the city of Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday issued an emergency declaration in response to the growing number of migrants arriving in the city, calling it a “humanitarian crisis.”
In a press release, Lightfoot’s office declared that “since August 2022, the city has coordinated a multi-departmental, city-wide strategy in partnership with the state and Cook County for receiving and providing emergency care for over 8,000 new arrivals.” The statement continued, asserting that “the city has continued to call on federal and state governments to support the new arrival mission with much-needed additional funding and resources for emergency shelter and resettlement, as there are not enough resources currently to meet the need.”
BORDER PATROL STRETCHED TOO THIN
Current CBP data reflects the unprecedented strain on border patrol agents as they try to deal with crime at the border.
Data shows that 82 non-American citizens who are on the nation’s terrorist watchlist have already been encountered between America’s ports of entry just since the beginning of the current fiscal year, which began in October. In the entire fiscal year of 2022, 98 individuals from the watchlist were encountered between ports of entry.
CBP encounters of individuals between ports of entry who are on the watchlist for the entirety of the fiscal years 2017 through 2021 combined total to 30 individuals.
Additionally, border agents seized 343 pounds of the deadly drug, fentanyl, in March – the highest amount so far this fiscal year.
The Biden administration has proposed a new measure, called the “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways” policy, claiming it will help mitigate the migrant crisis after Title 42 ends.
The basic tenets of the policy prohibit granting asylum to migrants unless they have applied for and been denied asylum protections in other countries they have traveled through, or unless they schedule an appointment through the government’s CBP One app and present themselves for processing and potential admittance into the country.
Biden also unveiled a sponsorship program at the beginning of the year which allows for up to 30,000 migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba to be admitted into the country each month.
REPUBLICANS ASK FOR TITLE 42 EXTENSION
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), along with other Republican lawmakers, recently sent President Biden a letter pleading with him not to end Title 42.
They state that Biden’s new immigration policy won’t help to alleviate the enormous strain of the migration crisis on the United States.
“Nothing in this [Biden] rule prevents aliens from making frivolous asylum claims,” the letter reads.
Instead, under the terms of the rule, aliens are encouraged to schedule a time to present at a port of entry through the CBP One mobile application, after which time many, if not most, will subsequently claim asylum. … Whether done through the CBP One mobile app or not, this gaming of our asylum system is a major pull factor that is causing the border crisis in the first place, and until your administration has a serious plan to address that, the authority Title 42 gives will still be necessary.
In a separate press release, Sen. Cruz pointed out that current Biden administration immigration policies have aided in creating the migrant crisis on the whole.
“Under current law, an illegal alien who fails to appear for their immigration court hearing will be deportable and banned from entering the United States for 10 years,” the release states.
Because of the Biden administration’s failed catch-and-release policies, the current wait time for an asylum case to be completed is four and a half years. Illegal immigrants are taking advantage of our asylum system by making an asylum claim then running out the clock and never showing up for their immigration court hearing.