DHS preparing to prevent flood of immigrants when Title 42 ends: Mayorkas
Anna Giaritelli
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The leader of the Department of Homeland Security told Congress on Wednesday that the Biden administration is “preparing” for a potential influx of immigrants at the border in mid-May when the pandemic-era policy Title 42 expires.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told House appropriators in a budget hearing that the department had a plan in place to deal with 14,000 noncitizens who could enter illegally on May 11 and that deterrence was a top priority.
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“We continue, of course, to prepare for the end of Title 42 on May 11,” Mayorkas told Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS). “Let me assure you that we are indeed trying to prevent unlawful entries at our southern border.”
Mayorkas said he had worked with Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz to ensure that agents remain in the field and not inside doing intake paperwork, as many agents were pulled to do over the past two years during periods of sharp influxes.
“We have been very, very focused on deploying personnel to do that processing — contract personnel, case processing personnel — to make sure that our Border Patrol agents are out in the field doing the law enforcement work that they are equipped to do,” Mayorkas said.
DHS first began preparing for Title 42 to end in 2021, following through on President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to end the policy, which has resulted in asylum-seekers not being allowed to seek asylum at ports of entry since March 2020.
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It was intended to end in May 2022 but was blocked in federal court. A second attempt to rescind Title 42 was made in December 2022 but failed.
Mayorkas said the preparations going into this third attempt have been in the works for nearly a year and a half. He called for immigrants from leading sending countries — Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela — not to cross illegally but instead seek admission through the government’s cellphone app and reiterated that those who do illegally enter will be returned south of the border.