U.S. intelligence officials predict a massive increase in unlawful migrants crowding illegal entry points along the southern border. Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) in Washington predicts that many of those detained in Mexico will flood the border once Title 42 is lifted on May 23.
Unlawful migrants are already crossing the southern border in record numbers, but intelligence officials believe that removing the title will result in between 12,000 and 18,000 encounters at the border every day.
“Now you have Title 42 people coming in, who are just saying, ‘I’m coming to wait for the magic day,’” said Bensman to The Epoch Times.
As reported by The Dallas Express, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration issued Title 42 in March 2020, which had bipartisan support.
In an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID, Title 42 allowed both lawful and unlawful migrants to be refused at the southern border without going through immigration processing.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has expressed concerns about ending Title 42 without a plan to handle the expected influx of immigrants.
Last week, Abbott had three buses transport migrants to Washington, D.C, directed by the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM). The governor has stated that sending the migrants to the Capital is meant to pressure the Biden administration into enforcing immigration law. Abbott claims that the federal government is not doing enough.
According to CIS, during President Joe Biden’s term, the Biden administration has allowed 1.3 million migrants to relocate to the United States by using an honor system for court dates or notifications to appear later to have their asylum petitions assessed.
“The number of deportations are at the lowest that they’ve been in memory and maybe in history. The number of deportations of criminal aliens with records is at a nadir,” said Bensman.