Days after repealing Title 42, a health policy implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic, Joe Biden’s administration pledged that migrants entering the country illegally would be deported.
This was confirmed by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a press conference in Brownsville, Texas.
“The border is not open. It was not open and will not be open after May 11th. And smugglers who exploit vulnerable migrants spread misinformation. They spread lies to lure vulnerable people to the southern border and those people are only being pushed back,” he was quoted as saying by Fox News.
The government has been intensifying its preparations for the end of the current regulation for days, including the deployment of 1,500 soldiers on the southern border and the establishment of immigration centers throughout Latin America.
He stressed that starting this coming week, Title 8 will apply, a policy that allows “persons to be removed very quickly” and includes a re-entry ban and criminal prosecution.
Under this rule, migrants would theoretically be barred from applying if they cross the border illegally and fail to apply for asylum in a country they have already traveled through.
With this norm, the consequences will be tougher, Mayorkas noted.
A Department of Homeland Security official also told the press that the number of deportation flights had increased in recent months and that they would continue under Title 8.
Earlier news reports said the military’s deployment to the border is at the request of the Department of Homeland Security and the troops will remain there for 90 days.
President Biden defended that decision Friday, saying the troops were sent to help border officials, not to enforce the law.
“I’ve asked this Congress for help with what they need at the border,” Biden said in an interview with MSNBC, reporting that in addition to the troops, asylum judges are being dispatched to deliver sentences at the border.
Critics slammed the president’s decision to phase out Title 42 policy without a set plan.
Former Vice President Mike Pence (2017-2021) has criticized the government, saying that the “rush” of migrants at the border is a “direct result” of its immigration policies.
“There’s a storm coming and 1,500 troops going to the southern border to do paperwork isn’t going to make a difference,” Pence said.
Troy Miller, the top official at US Customs and Border Protection, recently told Congress that his agency expects up to 10,000 migrants to arrive daily after Title 42 ends, nearly doubling the daily average in March.
ro/adr