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The layer of duct tape that has been holding up US immigration policy will be ripped off next week, and nobody seems completely ready for what’s next:
- In preparation for an expected surge of border crossings, the Pentagon is dispatching additional active-duty troops to the US-Mexico border to free up Department of Homeland Security agents.
- Border towns are already bursting with migrants sleeping on the street.
- Big city mayors up north are complaining they are overburdened by migrants already bused from Texas and want action from the federal government.
The surge of migrants is expected because Title 42, the Trump-era policy that allowed the government to quickly turn away certain migrants at the border during the Covid-19 pandemic, is expiring.
It was kept in place by courts and used by the Biden administration.
Title 42 officially ends on May 11, when the Covid-19 public health emergency lapses.
Encounters between US border agents and undocumented immigrants had fallen early this year but have recently increased. They are at around 7,000 per day at the moment and are expected to rise dramatically next week, despite a warning from the State Department and DHS about a new, more punitive policy related to border crossings.
The additional 1,500 active-duty troops being dispatched for 90 days by the Pentagon will join around 2,500 National Guard troops already on the border. They are meant to act in strictly administrative roles and not to aid in law enforcement, according to CNN’s report.
These deployments are not unprecedented in recent years, but this one is notable since it coincides with an expected surge of border encounters.
The administration…
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