Up to 50,000 migrants reportedly waiting in Mexico to cross US border
Up to 50,000 migrants are waiting in Mexico to cross the southern border of the US days after a federal judge ruled to keep the Title 42 health order in place, according to a new report.
Internal documents reviewed by Axios revealed that at least 8,000 people have been attempting to cross the border each day, while the Department of Homeland Security is tracking between 40,000 and 50,000 waiting to cross.
News of the massive number of migrants waiting in shelters across the border comes only days after Louisiana US District Judge Robert Summerhays ruled against the Biden administration’s efforts to lift Title 42 this week.
The health policy has been in place since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, allowing border officials to expel migrants quickly without hearing asylum claims. The order has been used more than 1.7 million times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in April that it would be ending Title 42 in mid-May — sparking massive backlash from bipartisan lawmakers and border state officials who warned of a surge in border crossings.
Even Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that as many as 18,000 migrants could cross the border daily.
Despite the order staying in place, border towns in Arizona and Texas saw a surge in migrant crossings over the weekend.
In Yuma, Ariz., migrant apprehensions jumped from 1,000 per day in April to 1,285 in a 24-hour period that ended Saturday morning. Over the course of the rest of the day, approximately 1,300 people were apprehended in the town and nearly 1,500 were taken in on Sunday.
Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines confirmed the border encounter numbers to The Post on Tuesday, saying his county has seen a “more diverse crowd” of migrants “than ever before.”
He revealed that a large number of migrants crossing the border were from Belarus, Russia, China, Nepal, Uzbekistan and the Republic of Georgia — there were not many from Mexico, Lines said.
During the same Friday morning-to-Saturday morning time period, Eagle Pass, Texas, saw 1,831 migrants apprehended — a massive hike from the 1,361 average in April, according to federal data obtained by the Washington Examiner.
In El Paso, Texas, officials apprehended 1,296 people over the same time frame — up from the 995 daily average.
The documents obtained by Axios this week also revealed that Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are releasing approximately 1,200 migrant adults and 1,300 family members into the country daily.
On Tuesday, Mayorkas warned that border-crossing numbers “could rise” due to the confusion over recent court decisions.
