US 'already' in midst of migrant surge as enforcement strained: Official

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – An expected surge of migration has already begun ahead of the expiration of pandemic-era authorities with border enforcement facing significant challenges, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday.

“We expected to see large numbers of encounters initially. We are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors. This places an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities and our communities with whom we partner closely,” he told reporters at the White House.

“I cannot overstate the strain on our personnel and our facilities, but we know how to manage through such strain, as difficult as it will be,” added Mayorkas.

Title 42 is set to expire at 11:59 pm ET (0359 GMT) on Thursday, and the Biden administration has for years been preparing for the change.

Mayorkas has repeatedly called on Congress to overhaul America’s “broken” immigration system, which he said has been left in place for 20 years “despite unanimous agreement that we desperately need legislative reform.”

The stresses on enforcement with which DHS is currently attempting to cope are “also the result of Congress's decision not to provide us with the resources we need, and that we requested.”

“Our efforts within the constraints of our broken immigration system are focused on ensuring that the process is safe, orderly and humane, all while protecting our dedicated workforce and our communities,” he said.

Since Title 42 was enacted by former President Donald Trump in March 2020, the policy has allowed the US to expel migrants nearly 2.7 million times from the southern border, according to government figures.

In addition to sending some 1,500 troops to the US-Mexico border for three months to bolster the capacity of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced last week that the US is establishing migrant processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala to help stymy the expected surge.

Mayorkas appealed to migrants to use the “legal pathways” established by the administration to seek entry, warning the US will now presume that all individuals who entered the country illegally are “ineligible” for asylum protections.

The new rule, he said, “allows us the United States to remove individuals who do not establish a reasonable fear of persecution. We announced that eligible families will be placed in expedited removal proceedings and those that receive a final negative credible fear determination will generally be removed within 30 days of being placed in those proceedings.”

“To those who do not use our available lawful pathways, we will deliver tougher consequences using our immigration law authorities,” he added.