An End to Pandemic Restrictions Could Bring Thousands to the Border (original) (raw)

U.S.|An End to Pandemic Restrictions Could Bring Thousands to the Border

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/07/us/title-42-border-migrants.html

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Title 42, the policy that has allowed the swift expulsion of many migrants at the southern border, will lift on Thursday. Officials are bracing for a new immigration surge.

A crowded sidewalk at night. Several people are sitting. One person is lying down in the street.

Migrants in El Paso. Federal, state and local officials are bracing for the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in the coming days.Credit...Justin Hamel for The New York Times

Published May 7, 2023Updated May 12, 2023

EL PASO — The Biden administration is preparing to lift an emergency health rule that has been used to prevent hundreds of thousands of migrants from entering the United States, setting the stage for what could be a new immigration surge that inflames political tensions and strains resources across the southern border.

Barring a last-minute legal challenge, the Trump-era policy known as Title 42 will expire at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Thursday. It was put in place three years ago under the premise of preventing the spread of Covid-19.

Border agents, state and local officials and even President Biden’s top aides in Washington are all bracing for the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in the coming days. Already, people have begun crossing into U.S. border towns, anticipating the end of Title 42, which since 2020 has allowed the government to swiftly expel citizens of several countries back to Mexico.

Three cities in Texas — Brownsville, Laredo and El Paso — have declared a state of emergency. Outside the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown El Paso last week, a tableau of human misery fanned out for several blocks, with destitute migrants occupying every spit of sidewalk.

In just days, the numbers there have soared to about 2,000 people from a few dozen, and more keep arriving. Families sleep on collapsed cardboard boxes at night, affixing sheets to fences to create shade during the day. Able-bodied men are asking for bus money to reach Houston, Denver and Orlando, where they said jobs await; little children roam the alleyways scavenging for food and begging for change.

Image

Outside the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown El Paso.Credit...Justin Hamel for The New York Times

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT