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Immigration agencies could run out of funds by the middle of summer if migration skyrockets like projections show will happen once Title 42 is lifted next month.
President Joe Biden is preparing to ask Congress for more money to cover the potential shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars, administration officials say, according to NBC News.
Internal projections show that operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would completely run dry by as early as mid July.
July 2021 was the month with the highest number of southern border crossings with CBP apprehending 213,593 migrants that month alone. That record-setting number was only topped last month when March 2022 numbers showed a two-decade high encounter rate spiking to 221,303 from 165,894 the month prior.
President for the National Border Patrol Council Brandon Judd told DailyMail.com that Border Patrol has decided to start sending migrants arriving from the Northern Triangle back to their home countries rather than back to Mexico.
Using Title 42 has helped keep down illegal crossings during the pandemic by sending migrants back to Mexico, but the authority usually used by immigration agencies falls under Title 8.
Judd told DailyMail.com that the problem with the asylum process under Title 8 is that ‘everybody knows how to game the system.’
‘Everybody knows all you have to do is claim you have a fear,’ he added.
Immigration agencies could run out of money as soon as early July if Title 42 is lifted next month. Pictured: Customs and Border Protection agents struggle with an asylum seeker from Russia in El Paso, Texas on April 14, 2022
Last month reached a new high of illegal immigrant crossing with CBP encountering 221,303 migrants. It was a new high from July of 2021, when apprehensions reached 213,593
Experts are warning that once Title 42 is lifted on May 23, the number of crossings could at least triple to 18,000 encounters each day.
Title 42 was enacted by former President Donald Trump to allow border officials to instantly expel migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border without hearing their asylum claims in the midst of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
The policy has remained in place through the administration change to Biden, and has even been defended by the current administration in court.
Earlier this month, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was on track to lift the policy by late May, which sent Republicans into a frenzy over the already surging illegal immigration figures.
Many Democrats are also opposed to lifting the rule, claiming there is no failsafe in place to quell migration without Title 42 in place.
A Tuesday evening report indicates that Biden is considering delaying the end of Title 42 after coming under increased pressure from Republicans and within his own Party to keep the border restriction policy in place.
Many have pointed to Biden’s hypocrisy by weighing appealing the decision to end mask mandates for air travel while putting an end to a pandemic-era policy that kept the southern border more secure.
While most migrants are arriving from Central America – a new influx is coming from Ukraine as asylum-seekers flee violence from Russia
If approved, funding would be used for transportation, medical care and beds in Border Patrol facilities. Pictured: A Border Patrol agent searched a migrant from Central America after corssing into the U.S. in Dona Ana County, New Mexico on July 15, 2021
‘The double standard in Washington knows no bounds,’ Florida Congresswoman Kat Cammack tweeted in reference to the two separate policies.
Washington Representative Dan Newhouse tweeted on Tuesday: ‘It is beyond hypocritical for the Biden Administration to lift Title 42 authority—on the grounds that the pandemic is over—while extending mask mandates in the name of said pandemic.’
Senator Bill Haggerty of Tennessee said it was an example of the Biden administration wanting to ‘have its cake and eat it too.’
Biden faced growing pressure to end the policy from progressives and immigration advocates who claimed it was no longer needed – but now some of his party base are demanding it be kept in place until the public health emergency has lifted in the U.S.
CBP and ICE are already overwhelmed, claiming that personnel are being redirected from the field to processing and changing diapers at processing and detention centers.
Although there is a need for more boots on the ground, the immigration agencies are also pleading for more funds as they are set to run out if Title 42 does end next month.
If the administration does get Congress to allocate more funds for the border, it would be used for transportation, medical care and beds in Border Patrol facilities for newly arrived migrants, officials told NBC.
Republicans are poised to make any COVID-19 funding legislation reliant on stricter border policies, including keeping Title 42 in place.
‘It’s not unreasonable for the Senate to consider these issues during debate on any future request for federal COVID funds,’ Senate Minority Whip John Thune told Fox News.
‘The pandemic can’t simultaneously be over for those who attempt to illegally cross the border but be too dangerous for everyone else that we need to pass emergency funds to respond to it,’ the South Dakota senator added.
Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barasso of Wyoming also told Fox: ‘Ending Title 42 will be a national security and humanitarian disaster for Americans. It is the height of hypocrisy to end this important public health tool at the very same moment Democrats are seeking billions more for COVID. The Biden administration can’t have it both ways and Republicans will fight to keep Title 42 safeguards in place.’