Mayorkas visits border as it erupts into chaos near Title 42 end
Anna Giaritelli
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AUSTIN, Texas — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited with U.S. border officials in a Gulf Coast city on the Texas-Mexico border Thursday to see how federal law enforcement has prepared for what is expected to be a historic cross-border migration event next week.
Mayorkas visited the Rio Grande Valley region of southeast Texas as part of a two-day trip a week ahead of when the Biden administration will stop expelling illegal immigrants back to Mexico under Title 42 and return to pre-pandemic protocols.
BORDER FALLING INTO CHAOS AHEAD OF TITLE 42 END DATE: ‘WE’RE IN TROUBLE’
The end of Title 42 on May 11 is expected, by the department’s own admission, to see between 13,000 and 18,000 arrests of illegal immigrants per day given that countless immigrants have been waiting in Mexico to cross when the policy is lifted.
But already, the Rio Grande Valley city of Brownsville and the West Texas city of El Paso are experiencing massive increases in apprehensions, and while in the Brownsville area, Mayorkas kept a low profile, skipping out on the normal press conference meetings with local and national media as the situation up and down the border grows more chaotic.
Pool reports from media ride-alongs and tours with Border Patrol in McAllen made no mention of where Mayorkas was as reporters spent all day in separate engagements.
https://twitter.com/Anna_Giaritelli/status/1654313358848405504
In El Paso, video shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner showed a massive group of immigrants after they had crossed the border illegally and were waiting next to a metal fence, waiting to be taken into custody.
In another scene caught on camera by Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), whose district includes part of El Paso, hundreds of immigrants who crossed in the same area had set up an encampment, similar to how the September 2021 influx of 15,000 Haitian immigrants began at the time.
https://twitter.com/TonyGonzales4TX/status/1654175790286741504
Approximately 73,000 people were apprehended by Border Patrol nationwide between April 21-30.
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Mayorkas, who normally holds a press conference during trips to the border, bucked reporters, and the Department of Homeland Security did not disclose if he would meet with Border Patrol agents at any point Thursday or Friday.
Historically, during meetings with Border Patrol agents during his trips, Mayorkas has been dragged through the mud by agents who strongly criticized him and Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz for allowing the worst illegal immigration event in history to go on for more than two years.