The Secretary of Homeland Security has warned migrants along the US-Mexico border not to believe the “lies” of traffickers who claim the border is now open following the lifting of Title 42 border control measures.
Alejandro Mayorkas posted a video and a Twitter thread marking the moment at midnight Eastern Time when Title 42 ended.
“We have 24,000 Border Patrol agents and officers on the southwestern border and have deployed thousands of troops and contractors, and more than 1,000 asylum officers to help enforce our laws,” he said.
“Don’t believe the lies of smugglers. The border is not open.’
Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, posted a video to Twitter on Thursday evening warning of severe penalties if migrants cross illegally as Title 42 is revoked
As of tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a legal path will not be eligible for asylum. We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the US (1/4) pic.twitter.com/JnpSw6793v
— Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) May 12, 2023
Mayorkas and the Biden administration have faced an avalanche of criticism over the scenes at the border, as thousands of migrants gather in hopes of entering the US now that restrictions have been lifted.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said smugglers were gathering in large numbers at his country’s southern border. offering to bring migrants into the United States and telling them the border will be open from Thursday.
But Mayorkas on Thursday tried to tell those who wanted to cross that it was a bad move.
“Starting tonight, people who arrive at the border without using a legal path will be deemed ineligible for asylum,” he tweeted.
“We are ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the US
“People who do not use available legal routes to re-enter the US now face harsher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban from re-entering and potential criminal charges.
“Together with our partners from the federal government and the Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition.”
The expiring rules have been in effect since March 2020.
They enabled border officials to quickly return asylum seekers across the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
US authorities have unveiled strict new measures to replace Title 42, which crack down on illegal crossings and establish legal pathways for migrants who apply online, find a sponsor and undergo background checks.
If successful, the reforms could fundamentally change the way migrants arrive at the US-Mexico border.
Many migrants were well aware of impending policy changes to stop illegal crossings and encourage asylum seekers to apply online and consider alternative destinations, including Canada or Spain.
Groups of migrants from Peru and Senegal beat the clock just before Title 42 expires in Yuma, Arizona
Migrants wait in the cold at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday
Hours before Title 42 was lifted, hundreds of migrants lined up on US soil in Yuma to begin the asylum application process. The number has risen sharply in recent days
On the US side of the river, many immediately surrendered to authorities and hoped to be released while they pursue their cases in overdue immigration courts, which takes years.
It was not clear how many migrants were on their way or how long the wave would last.
A US official reported that border patrol stopped some 10,000 migrants on Tuesday — almost twice as many as in March and only slightly below the 11,000 figure that authorities say is the upper limit of what they expect after the end of Title 42.
More than 27,000 people were in US Customs and Border Protection custody, the official said.
Our buses are full. Our planes are full,” said Pedro Cardenas, a city commissioner in Brownsville, Texas, just north of Matamoros, as recent arrivals made their way to US locations.
to pray admitted the border will be chaotic for a while.
Immigrant advocacy groups have threatened legal action.
And migrants fleeing poverty, gangs and persecution in their homelands are still desperate for American soil at all costs.
Migrants wait along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum application processing as they cross the Rio Grande River into the United States at the US-Mexico border in El Paso
While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it had no legal ramifications, encouraging repeated attempts.
Now migrants are banned from entering the US for five years and may face criminal charges.
The storage facilities along the border were already well beyond their capacity.
But late Thursday, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, halted the administration’s plan to begin releasing migrants with notices that they must report to an immigration office within 60 days when the shelters open. Reaching 125 percent capacity, or where people are, took an average of 60 hours.
The quick releases would also be triggered when authorities stop 7,000 migrants along the border in a day.
The state of Florida argued that the administration’s plan was almost identical to another Biden policy that had previously been overturned in federal court.
Earlier Thursday, the Justice Department said its new move was in response to an emergency and would prevent it from “overwhelming the border and could pose serious health and safety risks to non-citizens and immigration officials.”
Weatherell blocked the releases for two weeks and scheduled a May 19 hearing on whether to renew his order.
Mayorkas had already warned that more crowded border patrol facilities were to come.
“I cannot stress enough the strain on our staff and facilities,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Wednesday he announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone traveling through another country, such as Mexico, or who has not applied online, to qualify for asylum.
It also introduced GPS-tracked curfews for families released before the first US asylum inquiries.
The minutes to midnight Eastern (9 p.m. PST) saw an influx of arrivals into Yuma
Earlier, dozens of Peruvians arrived and found that there were no border officials to turn themselves in. They stopped to get water from a boat and continued on their way
The government says it is ramping up the removal of migrants not qualified to stay in the US and will send them home on flights like the one that brought nearly 400 migrants home from the US to Guatemala on Thursday.
Among them was Sheidi Mazariegos, 26, who arrived with her 4-year-old son just eight days after being detained near Brownsville.
“I heard on the news there was a chance to get in, I heard it on the radio, but it was all a lie,” she told the AP.
Smugglers took her to Matamoros and put the two on a raft. They were quickly apprehended by border police officers.
Mazariegos said she made the trek because she is poor and hoped to reunite with her sisters who live in the US
At the same time, the government has introduced extensive new legal routes into the US
Up to 30,000 people per month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela can enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport.
Processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere.
Up to 1,000 can enter through land crossings into Mexico daily if they make an appointment on an online app.