SAN DIEGO/WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) – In the hours before the U.S. government lifted Title 42 COVID-19 immigration restrictions on Thursday, migrants gathered on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border — some scrambling to cross before crossing. Strict new asylum rules that will replace the system.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has in recent days detained as many as 28,000 immigrants at its facilities, beyond its stated capacity and in what appears to be a record number, two federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity and the Border Patrol union, said.
The busiest border detention facilities are in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and two counties in Arizona, according to union president Brandon Good.
This week, the number of people caught crossing illegally exceeded 10,000 per day.
Because of the volume of arrivals, Judd said, agents release some migrants without warning to appear in immigration court, where they can apply for asylum, and require them to report to the immigration office at a later date.
On average, Judd said, people spend nearly three days in detention. CBP did not respond to a request for comment.
In Yuma, Arizona, hundreds of migrants lined up in the cold hours before dawn at a gap in the towering border fence, waiting to turn themselves in to US agents.
Some, like 40-year-old Jovana Gomez from Colombia, heard about the change in US policy and decided to try her luck crossing now.
“In my country, you hear that immigration will only be allowed until May 11th, so we came in a race against time,” she said. “It wasn’t easy.”
Under Title 42, in place since March 2020 and set to expire at midnight, hundreds of thousands of immigrants have been swiftly expelled back to Mexico.
But since Mexico has only accepted the return of some nationalities—mostly its own and Central Americans, and more recently Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans—immigrants from other countries have largely been allowed entry to pursue their immigration applications.
That is set to change as President Joe Biden’s administration pushes people and money to the border while implementing the new regulation, which would deny asylum to all immigrants who cross illegally. This measure will ban anyone who has passed through another country without seeking asylum elsewhere or failed to use legal pathways to enter the United States.
It will go into effect when Title 42 lifts, along with the declared end of the broad COVID public health emergency Thursday.
Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Troy Miller confirmed in a statement that Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who illegally cross the southwest border after the end of Title 42 will continue to be returned to Mexico, which can accept up to 30,000 immigrants from those countries per month.
The United States has opened legal procedures for immigrants 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, borders are not open to irregular migration. Individuals should not put their lives in the hands of smugglers, only to face severe consequences,” Miller said.
American border towns are struggling to house the new arrivals and provide transportation to other destinations. Beyond the borders, other cities say they are also struggling to adjust, such as New York where Mayor Eric Adams has temporarily relaxed right-to-shelter rules due to strained resources.
Pointing political fingers
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Sinema, an independent woman from Arizona who left the Democratic Party five months ago, criticized the administration Thursday, telling reporters that the president failed to adequately prepare for the end of Title 42. She said small towns in her state are struggling to relocate immigrants who have nowhere to go. Only a few resources such as buses or shelters.
Republicans blame Biden, a Democrat running for re-election in 2024, for reversing the restrictive policies of former President Donald Trump, a Republican seeking to regain the White House.
Biden administration officials have in recent days stepped up their attacks on Republicans, saying they have failed to reform immigration laws or provide sufficient funds for the border.
“I asked Congress for more money for Border Patrol,” Biden said on Wednesday. “They don’t.”
Since Biden took office in January 2021, the country has seen a record 4.6 million arrests of immigrants crossing illegally, though the number includes many re-crossers. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published this week found that only 26% approve of Biden’s handling of immigration.
In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a vocal critic of the president’s border policies, expanded the National Guard’s deployment this week to “help intercept and repel large groups of immigrants trying to enter Texas illegally.”
Some organizations welcome immigrants. In Yuma, Fernando Queiroz, 50, a member of a volunteer group known as the AZ-California Humanitarian Coalition, was pulling a cart full of water bottles to deliver to immigrants waiting to be processed in the middle of the night.
“The reason we are here is because of our faith, our sympathy, and our sympathy for so many of these individuals,” Keyrouz 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 on a very long journey.”
(Reporting by Mike Blake in San Diego, Ted Hesson in Washington, and Lisbeth Diaz in Mexico City); Additional reporting by Jose Luis Gonzalez in El Paso, Texas and Christina Cook in San Francisco. Editing by Mary Milliken and Jamie Fried
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