End of Title 42: El Paso says 2,460 migrants crossed DAILY over weekend

El Paso, Texas, was inundated with thousands of illegal border crossers over the weekend with nearly 2,500 daily encounters and just eight days to go until the pandemic-era Title 42 removal policy ends.

In the last 48 hours, Border Patrol chief Raúl Ortiz tweeted, agents found 16,000 migrants on the overall southern border. Officials are warning that the crisis will only worsen in the coming weeks and agents are bracing for chaos when Title 42 ends on December 21, just four days before Christmas.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is expected to visit El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday to assess the situation, “meet with the CBP workforce, review operations, and meet with local officials and organizations.” .

Border Patrol agents were instructed to process as many immigrants as possible before Mayorkas’ visit. according to NewsNation. Agents claim that when “superiors” visit, they move migrants to other locations for processing or try to rush them out of their facilities.

The thousands of immigrants who poured into the city over the weekend overwhelmed Border Patrol forces as well as local shelters. Images emerged of a caravan of approximately 1,000 asylum seekers crossing the Rio Grande into El Paso overnight Sunday. It is possibly the largest single crossover group in history.

A few dozen migrants had to sleep on the streets of El Paso after the city’s shelters became overcrowded following a massive increase in crossings.

The three-day average in El Paso saw 2,460 daily encounters, most of which crossed into the city center, according to El Paso Border Patrol Chief Peter Jaquez.

Republicans criticize the policies of President Joe Biden and Mayorkas, saying they have only exacerbated the crisis and ignored problems facing border communities.

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs will hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon calling for Mayorkas’ removal.

“The El Paso sector of Customs and Border Protection on the Texas-Mexico border has seen an increase in encounters,” CBP wrote in a statement to NewsNation. “To process people as safely and quickly as possible, Big Bend Border Patrol agents and El Paso Field Office CBP officers are assisting with processing.”

Hundreds of migrants have been staying in NGOs, shelters and on the streets of Ciudad Jaurez, Mexico, just across the river from El Paso, raising concerns among officials that they are waiting to cross once Title is lifted. 42.

A caravan of 1,000 migrants crossed the Rio Grande River into El Paso, Texas, from Sunday night through Monday morning. Agents brace for even more chaos at the border when Title 42 ends on December 21

A group of mostly Nicaraguan migrants walk to a bus station after being released from Border Patrol custody in El Paso, Texas, on Monday.

The COVID-era policy allowed law enforcement officials 2 million times to immediately expel asylum seekers to Mexico without prosecution amid the public health emergency. This expedited the process and also prevented Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from releasing the immigrants into the US to await immigration proceedings.

While officials had expected an increase once Title 42 ends next week, it appears they weren’t prepared for the flooding that occurred in the last few days before the policy was struck down.

In fiscal year 2022, an average of 6,500 migrants crossed the southern border every day into California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The total number of CBP encounters topped 2.3 million last year, a massive record during Biden’s time in office.

In October, officially the first month of fiscal year 2023, CBP encountered 230,678 migrants, which is the third-highest number of crossings in a single month in recorded history. It ranks third only through April and May 2022.

Of the thousands of migrants who have crossed the border in the past 48 hours, at least three are confirmed gang members, two are sex offenders, two are murderers and two have outstanding warrants, according to Ortiz.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is quickly erecting a makeshift border wall out of double-stacked shipping containers during his final days in office before he is succeeded by Democrat Katie Hobbs.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, rumored to be considering a White House run, visited his state’s southern border Monday to assess the situation ahead of the end of Title 42.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom praised Biden’s “reform” saying he will “fix our broken immigration system” while Republicans “have done nothing but exploit the situation for political gain.”

Newsom visited his state’s southern border on Monday and tweeted a video of the wall saying he wanted to assess what the situation looks like now, compared to what it will look like after Title 42.

The visit comes amid rumors that the governor could launch a run for president.

“CA has invested $1B to humanely support immigrant communities and secure our border,” Newsom tweeted. We cannot do this alone.