“The border is not open,” Mayorkas said. After May 11, it won’t be open either, because it wasn’t. In addition, traffickers who take advantage of helpless immigrants distribute false information. To lure gullible people to the southern border, they spread misleading information and misinformation in a way that can only lead to their return.
Just days before Title Order 42 expired on Thursday, Mayorkas and Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz gave a speech in Brownsville, Texas. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, a public health order was put in place in March 2020, and millions of migrants were quickly deported to Mexico. 46% of all contacts in March ended in a title 42 expulsion.
There are widespread concerns about a further push at the border when the order expires as migrants, thinking they are more likely to be allowed into the United States, rush to the border. The number of migrants is already increasing in places like the Brownsville area, where authorities are seeing an increase in the number of single Venezuelan adults.
Mayorkas said on Friday that he “[does] do not want to underestimate the seriousness of the challenge we expect to face. »
He nevertheless persisted in warning them against any attempt to enter the United States illegally and vowed to have them deported.
“To people considering migration: Don’t trust traffickers. Please read government-issued materials. For factual information, please visit the Department of Homeland Security website, the official source,” he said. declared.
Because you are being duped, he added, and risking your life and your finances just to meet an outcome on our southern border that you did not expect.
The administration has stepped up preparations, deploying 1,500 troops to the southern border this week, opening migrant processing centers across Latin America and striking additional deals with Mexico to return illegal immigrants who are not Mexicans. .
The government is also implementing an asylum law which, in principle, would exclude migrants from asylum if they enter a country illegally and do not apply first. Mayorkas, however, stressed that the “presumption of ineligibility” is rebuttable, indicating that the exemptions can be applied broadly.
The DHS administrator said local governments and NGOs will receive $332 million in additional funding to help migrants who have been released from detention.
Mayorkas also pointed to DHS’s intention to make greater use of customary Title 8 penalties, such as a five-year re-entry ban and criminal prosecution, to hunt 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 relief requirements under the guidelines established by the regulations that we will have approved from here on May 11,” he said. declared.
GOP senators call on Biden to reverse Title 42 termination in light of immigrant influx estimates
He said, “We have a plan, and we are executing that plan,” before again urging Congress to act to change the “broken” immigration system.
Mayorkas has yet to provide assurance to Hill lawmakers. As a bipartisan group of senators submitted legislation to give DHS Title 42-like power for two years, some Republican senators urged President Biden to change his mind on the law.
Even before the restriction was removed, CBP sources told Fox News they observed 8,000 interactions a day in early May, indicating that officers are already seeing an increase at the border.