Illegal immigration crossings rise 25% in March as pandemic policy nears end
Rachel Schilke
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U.S. immigration authorities said the influx of immigrants illegally crossing the border rose 25% in March. Democrats and Republicans grow more concerned that immigration could spike to new highs as the end of a pandemic-era policy nears.
Federal statistics show U.S. Border Patrol agents recorded over 162,000 apprehensions of people crossing the border without authorization, a spike from the 130,000 reported in February.
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The rise in immigrant border encounters comes as the Biden administration prepares for the end of Title 42, a rule adopted during the pandemic that allowed Border Patrol agents to expel hundreds of thousands of immigrants.
President Joe Biden signed a bill on April 11 ending the COVID-19 pandemic national emergency, but it did not put an end to the Title 42 provisions, which are set to expire on May 11.
With the end of this policy, the Department of Homeland Security is expecting 400,000 immigrants to cross the southern border, amounting to about 13,000 to 18,000 immigrants a day.
Congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed both their concerns for immigration levels and their disappointment with the Biden administration’s handling of the influxes, dubbed the “border crisis.”
Some politicians are taking steps to temper the storm coming from the end of Title 42.
In 2022, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) called for a $25 billion boost to border security, as well as expediting the asylum process and creating pathways to citizenship for the roughly 2 million “Dreamers,” or young, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. by their parents.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) introduced framework on Tuesday that would revamp immigration programs, including new pathways to citizenship, boosting humanitarian aid to some countries, and increasing funding for border security.
The plan would also involve busing immigrants from GOP-led states to Democratic-controlled cities, with DHS in charge of the transportation, “to end the current challenge of states independently sending migrants to major urban centers without intergovernmental coordination,” according to the outline.
The plan has been shared with the White House, departments of Homeland Security and State, and Senate leadership.
House Republicans are looking to introduce legislation of their own. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX), co-chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, said GOP leadership will not push a bill to the House floor without going through normal processes to ensure the proposal has enough backing from Republicans.
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And it appears that the plan is in motion. The House Judiciary Committee is planning to take up a border measure from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) that would deny entry altogether to certain immigrants seeking asylum.
Gonzales has been the most outspoken against the measure, calling it “un-Christian” and “anti-immigrant.”