Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, issued a last appeal to migrants not to try to enter the United States illegally, warning them that they are being "deceived" by traffickers. Mayorkas is facing a possibly unprecedented migrant influx once the Title 42 public health order expires in less than a week.
"The border is not open," Mayorkas said. After May 11th, it won't be open either, as it hasn't been. Additionally, the traffickers who take advantage of helpless immigrants distribute false information. To draw gullible people to the southern border, they are disseminating misleading information and misinformation in a manner that can only result in their return.
Just a few days before the Title 42 order expires on Thursday, Mayorkas and Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz gave a speech in Brownsville, Texas. In reaction to the COVID-19 epidemic, a public health order was put into place in March 2020, and millions of migrants were swiftly deported back to Mexico as a result. 46% of all contacts in March ended with a Title 42 expulsion.
There are widespread concerns about a fresh border surge when the order expires as migrants, thinking they are more likely to be let into the United States, rush to the border. The number of migrants is already rising in places like the vicinity of Brownsville, where officials are seeing an increase in Venezuelan single adults.
Mayorkas said on Friday that he "[does] not want to understate the severity of the challenge we expect to encounter."
He nonetheless persisted in warning them against trying to enter the United States illegally and vowed to have them expelled.
"To the people who are considering migration: Don't trust the traffickers. Please read the materials published by the government. For factual information, please visit the Department of Homeland Security website, the official source, he said.
Because you are being duped, he added, and risking your lives and your finances just to encounter a result at our southern border that you did not anticipate.
The administration has stepped up its preparations, deploying 1,500 soldiers to the southern border this week, opening migrant processing centres throughout Latin America, and reaching additional deals with Mexico to return illegal immigrants who are not Mexicans.
The government is also implementing an asylum law that, in principle, would exclude migrants from receiving refuge if they enter a nation illegally and do not request it there first. Mayorkas has emphasized, however, that the "presumption of ineligibility" is rebuttable, indicating that the exemptions may be applied broadly.
The DHS administrator said that local governments and NGOs will get an extra $332 million in funding to assist migrants who have been freed from detention.
Mayorkas also emphasized DHS's intention to make more use of the customary Title 8 sanctions, such as a five-year re-entry prohibition and criminal prosecution, to drive out immigrants who enter the country illegally.
"Therefore, the outcome will be more serious. And what we will do, what we will do, is remove those who do not meet the requirements for relief under the guidelines established by the regulation that we will have approved by May 11th," he stated.
GOP Senators call on Biden to overturn the termination of Title 42 in light of estimates of the immigrant influx
He said, "We have a plan, and we are executing on that plan," before urging Congress once again to act to change the "broken" immigration system.
Mayorkas has not yet provided the Hill's legislators with assurance. While a bipartisan group of senators submitted legislation to give DHS a Title 42-like power for two years, some Republican senators urged President Biden to change his mind on the law.
Even before the restriction is removed, CBP sources told Fox News that they have observed 8,000 interactions per day in the early days of May, indicating that officers are already seeing a rise at the border.
"The border is not open," Mayorkas said. After May 11th, it won't be open either, as it hasn't been. Additionally, the traffickers who take advantage of helpless immigrants distribute false information. To draw gullible people to the southern border, they are disseminating misleading information and misinformation in a manner that can only result in their return.
Just a few days before the Title 42 order expires on Thursday, Mayorkas and Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz gave a speech in Brownsville, Texas. In reaction to the COVID-19 epidemic, a public health order was put into place in March 2020, and millions of migrants were swiftly deported back to Mexico as a result. 46% of all contacts in March ended with a Title 42 expulsion.
There are widespread concerns about a fresh border surge when the order expires as migrants, thinking they are more likely to be let into the United States, rush to the border. The number of migrants is already rising in places like the vicinity of Brownsville, where officials are seeing an increase in Venezuelan single adults.
Mayorkas said on Friday that he "[does] not want to understate the severity of the challenge we expect to encounter."
He nonetheless persisted in warning them against trying to enter the United States illegally and vowed to have them expelled.
"To the people who are considering migration: Don't trust the traffickers. Please read the materials published by the government. For factual information, please visit the Department of Homeland Security website, the official source, he said.
Because you are being duped, he added, and risking your lives and your finances just to encounter a result at our southern border that you did not anticipate.
The administration has stepped up its preparations, deploying 1,500 soldiers to the southern border this week, opening migrant processing centres throughout Latin America, and reaching additional deals with Mexico to return illegal immigrants who are not Mexicans.
The government is also implementing an asylum law that, in principle, would exclude migrants from receiving refuge if they enter a nation illegally and do not request it there first. Mayorkas has emphasized, however, that the "presumption of ineligibility" is rebuttable, indicating that the exemptions may be applied broadly.
The DHS administrator said that local governments and NGOs will get an extra $332 million in funding to assist migrants who have been freed from detention.
Mayorkas also emphasized DHS's intention to make more use of the customary Title 8 sanctions, such as a five-year re-entry prohibition and criminal prosecution, to drive out immigrants who enter the country illegally.
"Therefore, the outcome will be more serious. And what we will do, what we will do, is remove those who do not meet the requirements for relief under the guidelines established by the regulation that we will have approved by May 11th," he stated.
GOP Senators call on Biden to overturn the termination of Title 42 in light of estimates of the immigrant influx
He said, "We have a plan, and we are executing on that plan," before urging Congress once again to act to change the "broken" immigration system.
Mayorkas has not yet provided the Hill's legislators with assurance. While a bipartisan group of senators submitted legislation to give DHS a Title 42-like power for two years, some Republican senators urged President Biden to change his mind on the law.
Even before the restriction is removed, CBP sources told Fox News that they have observed 8,000 interactions per day in the early days of May, indicating that officers are already seeing a rise at the border.
