The Biden administration has reinstated a Trump-era immigration regulation the day before Title 42 is supposed to expire, potentially encouraging a flood of illegal immigration into the United States.
The regulation, which was approved this week, and printed in the Federal Register, prevents migrants from requesting asylum in the United States if they did not first request it in one of the nations they passed through, like Mexico. Prior to Title 42’s expiry, hundreds of asylum officers received training on how to apply the law, according to CBS News.
The government has struggled for more than two years to rein in historically high levels of illegal immigration into the United States, and the new regulation represents a betrayal of President Biden’s campaign pledges. It is generally anticipated that the situation at the southern border will become worse later during the week when Title 42, a health directive allowing border agents to deport people right away without processing, is rescinded.
Biden was one of former President Trump’s most outspoken detractors when he adopted the law to stop illegal immigration. During the 2020 election, Biden utilized Trump’s immigration plan as a club.
During the last debate of the campaign, Biden said that “this is the very first president in the entire history of our country that anyone going for asylum must do so in a different country. That has never taken place in America before.”
Days before Title 42 expires, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been working frantically to be ready for the influx. 1,500 military soldiers were sought by DHS and sent by the Pentagon to assist with administrative duties at the border and free up additional border officers for enforcement.
To start clearing the streets of El Paso, Texas, one of the major hubs for illegal immigration, U.S. Customs, and Border Protection collaborated with city and state law enforcement. Oscar Leeser, the Democratic mayor of El Paso, proactively proclaimed the city to be under a state of emergency. He has predicted that when Title 42 is repealed, 15,000 migrants may be ready to enter the city from Ciudad Juarez.
In the weeks before the expiration of Title 42, immigration officers have seen a steady increase in illegal immigration. Raul Ortiz, the head of the Border Patrol, said that the agency caught over 9,000 migrants on average every day and recorded over 7,000 gotaways, or illegal immigrants who tried to enter the country but were unsuccessful. More than 11,000 migrants are said to have been apprehended trying to cross over the southern border this week.
