'It's A Disaster': Border Communities Brace For Over 10,000 Migrants A Day As Title 42 Expires on Thursday

Title 42, the public health emergency measure activated under President Trump that allowed for the speedy expulsion of illegal immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to expire on Thursday as the United States braces for yet another massive wave of southern immigration, according to Just the News. In March alone, migrant encounters at and between ports of entry totaled 191,900 persons, which marked a 23 percent increase from just a month prior. Single adults, according to Just the News, make up for 69 percent of all encounters in March. During that month alone, 46 percent of all migrant encounters ended in Title 42 invoked explusions. The removal of this mechanism coupled with an open border does not bode well given that at least over six million persons have illegally entered the United States since Joe Biden took office. 

Pinal County Sheriff and prospective 2024 Republican senatorial nominee Mark Lamb (R-AZ) was interviewed on the subject by Just the News and conveyed the gravity of the situation at the unsecured southern border. The sheriff stated that "every day we've got more and more apprehensions" in his county which is not on the border. He further detailed that "Our aviation unit is pulling people out of the desert every day." Mr. Lamb commented that he was told by the Yuma County sheriff that "they have 4,000 people in custody." He also mentioned that the Cochise County sheriff told him that "Border Patrol told him they're releasing 400 people into his community every day because they just can't hold the people."

The situation is indeed grave in Arizona and other border states. Lamb warned that "It's a disaster, and it's only going to get worse" and that officials "expect those numbers to go from about 7-8 thousand, which is what we're seeing now, up to over 11,000 a day in the next few days. And this is going to be catastrophic for all of us." Lamb voiced deep frustration with Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas's denial of the situation.

Mayorkas just last week insisted that "The border is not open. It has not been open, and it will not be open subsequent to May 11th. And the smugglers who exploit vulnerable migrants are spreading misinformation. They are spreading false information, lies in a way to lure vulnerable people to the southern border and those individuals will only be returned."

Mr. Lamb called out Mayorkas by saying the federal "administration doesn't back anything up...They have no muscle behind their mouth. And so, I don't expect anybody to change their behavior. It's almost like a wink, wink, 'Hey, don't come.' But then they just don't do anything to stop it, either."

His potential senatorial rival in the general election, Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) concurs with the basic picture the sheriff painted. She said in an interview with CBS that "Everyone here in Arizona knows we are not prepared...The Biden administration had two years to prepare for this and did not do so. And our state is going to bear the brunt, and migrants will be in crisis as soon as next week. It will be a humanitarian crisis because we are not prepared."

Border Patrol union chief Brandon Judd told Just the News that when Title 42 is lifted one can expect that the cartels "are going to be able to bring in all of their products such as the fentanyl, the dangerous drugs, the criminal aliens, and the aliens from special interest countries...All of that is going to go up, and it's going to be Americans that are going to pay for it."

Even the prospective Democratic senatorial nominee for the 2024 race, Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), mentioned that he felt that at the present time, border communities were not equipped to handle the termination of Title 42. He pledged that "With Title 42 ending this week, I’ve been pushing to ensure AZ border communities get the resources and transparency they need from the federal government."

With Title 42 ending this week, I’ve been pushing to ensure AZ border communities get the resources and transparency they need from the federal government. pic.twitter.com/toV98P1vxf

— Ruben Gallego (@RepRubenGallego) May 8, 2023

Republicans have proposed various measures like the Secure the Border Act of 2023 which would upgrade the technological infrastructure at the border and restore Trump's Remain in Mexico and Asylum Cooperation Agreements policies that Biden ended through executive fiat. As of now, no Democrat, Ruben Gallego included, has co-sponsored that piece of legislation. In the Senate, however, there is a bill that has cross-over support with Senators Manchin (D-WV), Sinema (I-AZ), Cornyn (R-TX), and Tillis (R-NC) signing off on it. That bill would create legal mechanisms that "authorize the immediate expulsion of inadmissible aliens attempting to enter the United States by fraud or without a necessary entry document, and for other purposes."

Senator Tillis's press statement about his bill was that it would grant the Biden administration "two-year temporary expulsion authority for migrants attempting to illegally enter the U.S. without inspection or proper documents." This lawless administration through its lackadaisical approach to the border is largely not lacking enforcement mechanisms to resolve or mitigate much of this crisis but it lacks the willpower to invoke said mechanisms.