President Biden admitted on Tuesday that the border “will be chaotic” when asked if his administration is prepared to handle the end of Title 42.
“It remains to be seen,” Biden said. “It’s going to be chaotic for a while.”
He said he spent more than an hour with Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday and that they are both “doing everything we can.”
He praised Mexico’s “overwhelming cooperation” and noted that the US is setting up asylum processing centers in Central American countries.
There are only two days to go before further chaos is expected to ensue at the southern border, with an estimated peak of up to 13,000 crossings per day – up from the current average of 7,700.
President Biden admitted on Tuesday that the border “will be chaotic” when asked if his administration is prepared to handle the end of Title 42
Texas is sending in its tactical border force and the White House is deploying active duty troops to help with the expected deluge of migrant processing.
At the same time, the Biden administration plans to expand legal migration and open processing centers in South and Central America so that migrants hoping to enter can be pre-screened to see if they meet basic qualifications for various forms of entry before making the journey.
The centers will become operational in Guatemala and Colombia in the coming weeks. Canada and Spain have also agreed to accept migrants from the centres.
On Monday, Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs sounded the alarm about the Biden administration’s preparations for the end of Covid-era public health policies, claiming at a news conference that Biden has not provided an “adequate response” to her letters and outlines action needed in her border state ahead of the end of pandemic-era eviction policies on Thursday.
She also said she expects the situation at the border will only get “worse” if nothing is done to help once Title 42 ends.
Hobbs said during her press conference that she had sent letters to Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas outlining the action she believes, as the leader of a border state, must be taken before Title 42 expires May 11.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said at a news conference Monday that President Joe Biden has failed to provide an “adequate response” to letters detailing concerns about Title 42 ending without a replacement policy in place
“As of today, we have not received an adequate response,” Hobbs told reporters as she stood next to state and border community leaders.
She added, “We will continue to press relentlessly on the federal government until we actually get the resources we need to manage the expected influx.”
The governor does not think the state is prepared to handle the expected influx of migrants on its own.
“While we are prepared to take action any way we can, we cannot handle this influx alone,” Hobbs said.
“Without much firmer action from the federal government, the current situation will only get worse.”
According to Raul Ortiz, chief of customs and border police, the numbers are quickly rising at the border, with 26,382 encounters with migrants in just 72 hours. This means that the average increased by 1,000 per day just in the days leading up to the end of Title 42.
Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls confirmed that Arizona is already seeing a wave of crossings in border communities.
“This isn’t going to stop anytime soon and it’s disturbing,” he said during the press conference with Hobbs.
Biden and Mayorkas assure that the government has prepared for the end of the pandemic policy. The president tried twice to end the policy last May and again in December, but was stopped by legal action.
As of May 11, immigration authorities will no longer use Title 42 to deport migrants without hearing their asylum applications. It’s the same day the three-year public health emergency ends.
Thousands of migrants are already lining up at the southern border, waiting to enter the US from Mexico once Title 42 is lifted Thursday. Pictured: An aerial view of migrants waiting at the border fence on May 8, hoping to apply for asylum on May 11
Many local leaders in border states lamented Biden’s inaction in addressing the crisis, with many claiming that there was no communication with the government regarding the end of Title 42.
Title 42 was first introduced in March 2020 under then-President Donald Trump as a way to suppress illegal immigration during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat from Arizona and become an independent, also has her doubts about the end of Title 42 and how the administration is handling migration.
She told CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday that Biden and his team have not communicated with local officials about expected surges or how the federal government plans to move migrants so as not to overwhelm border states.
In an effort to pre-emptively mitigate the crisis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent hundreds of National Guardsmen to the border on Monday, including members of his state’s elite Tactical Border Force.
President Biden also sent 1,500 active duty troops to the border earlier this month.