(CNN) – There are only a few hours left until the end of the implementation of the so-called Title 42, a public health border restriction that has been in place since the Covid-19 pandemic. Its demise will significantly change multi-year immigration policy in the United States as the threat of chaos increases as thousands of migrants wait at the border with Mexico to leave the country.
For a number of years, Title 42 allowed authorities to quickly turn away immigrants at US borders, ostensibly to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. But that will change at 11:59 p.m. Miami time this Thursday when the public health emergency and Title 42 expire.
This could affect border crossings after the implementation of this directive ends.
Title 8 reinstated
Title 42 allowed border officials to quickly turn away migrants found at the US-Mexico border, often denying them the ability to apply for asylum and drastically reducing processing time at the border. However, Title 42 did not provide for broad legal consequences for migrants who cross the border, meaning they could attempt to re-cross the border multiple times without facing consequences.
Once Title 42 expires, the US government will re-enact a decades-old rule known as Title 8, which Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned will have “more serious” consequences for immigrants who enter the country without legal authorization.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has repeatedly emphasized in recent months that immigrants detained under Title 8 authority may face an expedited deportation process, known as “expedited deportation,” and a minimum five-year re-entry ban must. Those who make later attempts to enter the United States could be prosecuted, according to DHS.
However, the processing time under Title 8 can be long, posing a significant challenge for authorities already dealing with large numbers of arrests at the border. In comparison, the Title 42 processing time was around 30 minutes because migrants could be deported quickly, while the Title 8 process can take more than an hour.
Additionally, Title 8 allows migrants to apply for asylum, which can result in a lengthy and time-consuming process that begins with a credible assessment of fear by asylum officials before cases move through the immigration court.
Title 8 has continued to be used alongside Title 42 since the latter was introduced during the pandemic. More than 1.15 million people were arrested under Title 8 at the Southern Border in fiscal year 2022, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). During the same period, more than 1.08 million people were deported under Title 42 at the southern land border.
There is a new border policy
Even after Title 42 ends, the Biden administration is rolling out tough new policies that will take effect this week.
These include a new asylum rule that largely bans immigrants who have transited through another country from seeking asylum in the United States. Under the rule, proposed earlier this year, migrants will not be eligible for asylum in the United States unless they first seek refuge in a country they transited through, such as Mexico, en route to the border. According to authorities, immigrants who secure an appointment through the CBP One app are exempt.
If it turns out that migrants are not entitled to asylum, they could be deported under the accelerated deportation procedure.
The government also plans to return Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans to Mexico if they cross the border illegally. This is the first time the United States has sent non-Mexican citizens back across the border.
Senior administration officials have stressed that the measures are necessary to encourage people to use legal routes to enter the United States. These include parole programs for eligible nationalities applying to enter the United States and expanding access to an application for immigrants to schedule an appointment for their appearance at a port of entry.
The State Department also plans to open about 100 regional processing centers in the Western Hemisphere where migrants can apply to enter the United States, but the timeline is unclear.
“However, we have linked this to a number of serious consequences for non-citizens who continue to illegally cross the border despite these options,” a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday.