Title 42 has expired

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is seen during a White House press briefing on Thursday, May 11.

The Biden administration is warning migrants not to “believe the lies of smugglers” as Title 42 expires, reiterating “the border is not open.”

In a statement from Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas released just before midnight — and as the pandemic-era immigration policy ends — the administration said the US is “ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S.”

Title 42 officially expired at 11:59 p.m. ET, meaning the Trump-era pandemic public health restrictions are no longer in place.

Title 42 allowed border authorities to swiftly turn away migrants encountered at the US-Mexico border, often depriving migrants of the chance to claim asylum and dramatically cutting down on border processing time. But Title 42 also carried almost no legal consequences for migrants crossing, meaning if they were pushed back, they could try to cross again multiple times.

Once Title 42 lifts, the US government will return to a decades-old section of the US code known as Title 8, which allows for migrants to seek asylum, which can be a lengthy and drawn out process that begins with a credible fear screening by asylum officers before migrants’ cases progress through the immigration court system.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned Title 8 would carry “more severe” consequences for migrants found to be entering the country without a legal basis.

A federal judge in Florida has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from releasing migrants from Border Patrol custody without court notices, according to a late Thursday court filing.

The ruling takes effect Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET to coincide with the end of Title 42 – and will expire in 14 days.

The Biden administration is expected to appeal.

For now, the ruling takes away one of the administration’s key tools in attempting to manage the number of migrants in US Customs and Border Protection custody — in some cases, by releasing them from custody with conditions. US border facilities are not equipped to hold people for extended periods of time.

The Biden administration had been preparing to release migrants who are apprehended at the US-Mexico border without court dates amid high border arrests and immense strain on border facilities, according to the Department of Homeland Security. As of Wednesday, there were more than 28,000 migrants in Border Patrol custody, stretching capacity.

The administration has previously released migrants without court dates when facing a surge of migrants after they’re screened and vetted by authorities. The latest move would have released migrants on “parole” on a case-by-case basis and require them to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some individuals may also be placed in alternative to detention programs. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday it would apply to a “fraction” of the people encountered.

Florida, which has previously taken issue with the release of migrants from custody, filed an emergency motion Thursday asking the court to temporarily block the administration’s plan.

A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for May 19, according to the order.

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford speaks on border security and Title 42 during a press conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Thurdsay.

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford joined other Republicans at a news conference outside the Capitol on Thursday, calling the end of Title 42 a “predictable crisis.” Lankford said he and Republican colleagues are working quickly on legislation to address the crisis.

“This administration has not done what it needed to do,” Lankford said. “The administration, by the way, does have the tools to enforce the asylum policies. They have those tools right now. They’ve always had those tools. They’ve just chosen not to be able to use them.”

Several other Republican senators visited the border area near Brownsville, Texas.

North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd called the end of Title 42 “truly a humanitarian crisis.” At a Thursday evening news conference with fellow senators, he called on Biden to pass his introduced Build the Wall Now Act, which would require the construction of the border wall to resume.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said “an absolute travesty” was unfolding on the border.

Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall commended Border Patrol, the National Guard, volunteers and NGOs, who are addressing conditions at the border. He urged President Joe Biden to “come and look one of these camps in the eyes and see for himself the tragedy that’s ongoing here.”

North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven echoed the concerns of his party regarding the end of Title 42. He called on Biden to “enforce the law,” and the Remain in Mexico policy.

Migrants seeking asylum in the United States wait in line to be processed by US Border Patrol agents Thursday after crossing into Yuma, Arizona from Mexico.

An Arizona city near the US-Mexico border is asking the Biden administration for an emergency declaration as Title 42 is set to expire Thursday night.

Yuma Mayor Douglas J. Nicholls said he wrote to President Joe Biden “demonstrating and demanding that he declare a national state of emergency due to this immigration crisis.”

The mayor said he demanded not just funding, but also additional resources on the ground. According to Nicholls, additional resources will help his community “protect our border,” along with migrants those who are crossing. 

Title 42 is a 2020 policy that allowed US authorities to expel migrants at the southern border to curb the spread of Covid-19. 

“Tonight, as we all know is going to be the sunset of Title 42 and the question keeps coming up, what now? Well, I’ve been asking that question for two years with no substantial response,” Nicholls said. “But the issues are here today, and those issues are in the form of people literally at the border and crossing the border. We’ve had an increase in the last month from 300 to 1,000 people and more every day.” 

Mayor Victor Treviño

The expected spike in migrants crossing the border into the United States ahead of the end of the Title 42 immigration policy requires a response similar to a natural disaster, the mayor of one border town said Thursday.

“We’re boarding up like there were a hurricane coming,” Laredo, Texas, Mayor Victor Treviño told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Treviño said they have safety concerns for the migrants themselves, noting that Laredo does not have a permanent pediatric intensive care unit.

“I don’t want to see any child get gravely ill and not be able to treat them,” he said.

The Laredo mayor said the border crisis was “avoidable for a long time” had immigration reform been put in place, and now his community is paying the price.

“At the end of the day, what has always been a federal problem for decades now has become a local problem for our border communities,” said Treviño.

The south Texas counties of Cameron and Hidalgo made disaster declarations Thursday ahead of Title 42’s expiration.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. issued his region’s declaration, citing “the imminent threat of the current Border Security Disaster,” according to a news release.

Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez issued a disaster declaration Thursday afternoon, according to a Facebook post.

Customs and Border Protection has informed the judge of “large groups of migrants” near the southern border who are “in search of crossing points,” Cortez wrote.

“I have decided to declare this emergency as a first step in securing all available state and federal resources to ensure the health and safety of our residents,” the judge added.

CNN’s Nick Valencia contributed to this report.

New York City plans to appeal a temporary restraining order against the city and Mayor Eric Adams that blocks the city from transporting migrants to a hotel in Rockland County.

A judge granted the order Friday in response to a lawsuit that claimed the city’s plan to bus migrants to a local hotel in Rockland County exceeded New York City’s legal authority.

“New York City has cared for more than 65,000 migrants — sheltering, feeding, and caring for them, and we have done so largely without incident,” Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for the mayor, told CNN. “We need the federal government to step up, but until they do, we need other elected officials around the state and country to do their part.”

A court hearing is scheduled for May 30 to determine if the temporary restraining order will be extended.

Some background: Adams announced last Friday the city planned to send willing migrants to neighboring communities ahead of a surge of migrants expected in the city following the expiration of Title 42.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said the county is dealing with its own housing crisis that has already subjected some low-income families to overcrowding.

“Quadrupling the number of homeless in this County overnight, as the City is intending to do, will only compound our housing crisis and lead to more people living in these dangerously inhumane conditions that we are fighting to fix,” Day said in a previous statement.

In the last 48 hours, about 1,500 migrants who had been waiting at border Gate 42, located in El Paso, Texas, have been transported and processed, according to US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.

Ortiz made the remarks to the media outside the gate and did not take questions from reporters.

Ortiz said an additional 1,000 migrants, including families, are still waiting to be processed.

Ortiz added that he hopes to transport and process the remaining migrants in the next 24 hours.

El Paso mayor Oscar Leeser speaks about a temporary shelter set up for processed migrants at the former Bassett Middle School in El Paso, Texas on Wednesday.

The fast-approaching end of the Title 42 immigration policy has prompted an uptick in migrants arriving in border towns.

The mayor of El Paso says the Texas city has the resources it needs for now, but that it’s not sustainable having to deal with this influx every few months. 

“Our community — and all communities across the country — we can’t continue to do this for eternity,” Mayor Oscar Leeser told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday.

Leeser called on Congress to find a compromise for immigration reform.

Leeser said many of the migrants now rushing to enter the US were lied to by smugglers who told them the border was open.

“A lot of them that are coming in today believe that if they’re here by the end of Title 42, they get political asylum, and that’s not a correct statement,” he said.

President Joe Biden met with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the White House Thursday ahead of the expiration of the Title 42 policy, the White House said in a tweet.

The meeting was held “to discuss ongoing actions across federal agencies, in partnership with countries across the Western Hemisphere, to humanely manage regional migration through enforcement, deterrence, and diplomacy,” the White House said.

See the tweet:

Migrants wait in the cold at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday.

The final day of Title 42 started off cold and dusty at the encampment where hundreds of migrants were waiting to get processed by immigration authorities near the banks of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas.

Under the light of a bright moon, migrants were wrapped in blankets sleeping on the dirt and others were standing trying to protect themselves from the cold breeze. 

The wind chill was piercing the girl’s blankets, not keeping her warm at all, they said. Right next to them was a 1-year-old girl who was also cold.

The couple didn’t want to be identified by name but said they were from Colombia.

CNN gained access to the area overnight Wednesday during a ride-along with members of the Texas National Guard. 

Guard members were assembling border barriers of concertina wire. Maneuvering the sharp metal is slow and coordinated.

Migrants arrive at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, on Thursday.

The commander of the operation, Maj. Sean Storrud with the Texas National Guard, said they’ve deployed more than 17 miles of border barrier in El Paso since December.

And as Title 42 ends, he says guard members are doing something different: They are creating gaps in the border barrier. 

“We actually created that gap not to admit people, but to give migrants the opportunity to go back,” Storrud said.

Guard members will explain to migrants that once Title 42 lifts, there are consequences to entering illegally. 

The National Guard member didn’t have an answer to the couple from Colombia about what they could or couldn’t do while they are in the encampment, which is an area under Border Patrol authority.

When asked why they had crossed Wednesday morning, the couple said they wanted to enter before the end of Title 42. 

“It’s impacting more Venezuelans, Haitians [than Colombians],” he said, referring to the expansion of Title 42 that includes the expulsion of certain nationalities. 

Once it expires tonight, the US government will return to a decades-old section of the US code known as Title 8, which Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned would carry “more severe” consequences for migrants found to be entering the country without a legal basis.

Then a group of three migrants walked toward border authorities to turn themselves. A woman in the group showed a small cut on her hand from the concertina wire they had just crossed. And her friend pointed to his ankle to reveal a gaping wound. 

Despite the wound, he continued walking toward immigration authorities. 

“The situation is tough in our countries,” the man said. And that is why so many migrants risk and endure everything to come to the United States.

Title 42 is set to end at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday — and after that, Title 8 will be back in effect.

Title 42 allowed border authorities to swiftly turn away migrants encountered at the US-Mexico border, often depriving migrants of the chance to claim asylum, and dramatically cut down on border processing time. But Title 42 also carried almost no legal consequences for migrants crossing, meaning if they were pushed back, they could try to cross again multiple times.

Once Title 42 lifts, the US government will return to a decades-old section of US code, known as Title 8, which Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned last week would carry “more severe” consequences for migrants found to be entering the country without a legal basis.

The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly stressed in recent months that migrants apprehended under Title 8 authority may face a swift deportation process, known as “expedited removal,” – plus a ban on reentry for at least five years. Those who make subsequent attempts to enter the US could face criminal prosecution, DHS has said.

The processing time for Title 8 can be lengthy, posing a steep challenge for authorities facing a high number of border arrests. By comparison, the processing time under Title 42 hovered around 30 minutes because migrants could be quickly expelled, whereas under Title 8, the process can take over an hour.

Title 8 allows for migrants to seek asylum, which can also be a drawn-out process that begins with a credible fear screening by asylum officers before migrants’ cases progress through the immigration court system.

Title 8 has continued to be used alongside Title 42 since the latter’s introduction during the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 1.15 million people apprehended at the southern border under Title 8 in fiscal year 2022, according to US Customs and Border Protection. More than 1.08 million people were expelled under Title 42 at the southern land border during that same period.

You can read more here about what happens when Title 42 expires.

The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday against Orange and Rockland counties for blocking the arrival of asylum seekers from New York City, according to court documents. 

“Orange and Rockland County’s Emergency Orders egregiously violate migrants’ rights,” said Amy Belsher, NYCLU director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation, in a statement.

“Migrants have every right to travel and reside anywhere in New York, free of xenophobic harassment and discrimination. People are not political pawns – both counties should welcome migrants into their communities, not unlawfully bar them from seeking refuge,” Belsher said.

When reached by CNN for comment, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said “we have not been served with any lawsuit.”

Rockland County said in a statement that while they don’t typically comment on pending litigation, they “feel strongly that what [they] are doing is right and legal as witnessed by the court’s Temporary Restraining Order granted Thursday.” 

The NYCLU further wrote that Orange and Rockland counties have “invoked an emergency that does not exist, raising the specter of ‘thousands’ of immigrants entering the Counties and burdening social services.”

“But there are no large-scale plans for migrants to move to these counties nor any immediate need for the counties to absorb the costs of caring for the limited migrants who do choose to do so. And the appropriate response would be to address the need, not to enact discriminatory and exclusionary policies,” the lawsuit read. 

A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office said Thursday the Orange County executive’s statement about alleged assurances that no asylum seekers from the city would arrive in the county is inaccurate.

CNN’s Polo Sandoval contributed to this report.

El Paso City Police and sanitation workers clear trash, blankets, and bedding that were left behind from a migrant encampment in an alley near the Sacred Heart Church in downtown El Paso, Texas, on Thursday.

The City of El Paso, in Texas, announced an increased law enforcement presence across the county, citing public safety as the end of Title 42 draws closer. 

Just a few miles outside the city center, hundreds of migrants are lining up outside Gate 42 at the southern border in El Paso as Title 42’s expiration draws closer. 

Migrants have been encamped and exposed to the elements all day in El Paso — cold in the evening and early morning hours and hot daytime temperatures that are scorching and dangerous in the Texas sun. 

CNN witnessed Border Patrol vehicles arrive with cases of bottled water as migrants wait in difficult conditions. A water truck was also seen spraying sand in the area, which becomes hot to the touch under the sun’s heat.

Border Patrol agents on scene who were not allowed to speak on the record told CNN there are “several hundred” migrants beyond the gate and the plan is to process them as space becomes available at detention centers in the area. 

Early Thursday morning, CNN witnessed several Border Patrol vehicles and officers take migrants into custody and transport them out of the area.

The House voted 219-213 Thursday to pass a sweeping GOP border security bill after Republican leaders worked to lock down votes and win over holdouts within their own party.

Republican Reps. Thomas Massie and John Duarte defected, voting no. 

The bill is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House has issued a veto threat. 

Passage of this bill serves as a messaging opportunity for the House Republican majority on one of their signature priorities.

Final passage was planned to coincide with the expiration of Title 42, the pandemic-era policy that allowed certain migrants to be turned away at the border.

The bill would restart construction of a border wall, increase funding for border agents and upgraded border technology, reinstate the “remain in Mexico” policy, place new restrictions on asylum seekers, and enhance requirements for E-verify, a database employers use to verify immigration status.

A bus carrying “a couple dozen” asylum seekers from New York City arrived in Orange County, New York, on Thursday, a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. 

The bus was carrying single men, but spokesperson Fabien Levy said he did not have an exact number for how many. Levy also told CNN he does not think there will be more buses sent out Thursday.

The arrival of the bus comes after Adams announced a plan to transport willing migrants to other neighboring New York communities, including Orange County, ahead of a surge of migrants expected to arrive in the city following the expiration of Title 42 on Friday. 

The city estimates that over 4,200 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City this week alone, Levy said. 

Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said Thursday that the bus arrived in the town of Newburgh, despite assurances from both state and New York City officials that “no buses with asylum seekers would be [in Orange County] until further notice.”

The county executive said that officials did not receive notification of the arrival of asylum seekers.

“Sadly, we have learned that you cannot trust the words of New York City’s mayor and the leadership of New York,” Neuhaus said. 

CNN has reached out to the offices of both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Adams for comment. 

As of Tuesday night, more than 65,000 asylum seekers have been processed through New York City’s intake system and offered a place to rest and 39,400 asylum seekers are currently in the care of the city, Levy said. 

As part of its effort to respond to the growing migrant crisis, the city has also opened 134 emergency shelters and eight “Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers” (HERCs), Levy said.

Texas National Guard soldiers place razor wire at a makeshift migrant camp located between the Rio Grande and the US-Mexico border fence on Thursday.

Homeland Security officials are staring down what’s been described as tough days and weeks ahead when Title 42 expires late Thursday, with one official telling CNN that “it will get worse.”

Hours away from the authority’s expiration, the question at the top of mind among officials is just how long a surge might last. Over the last two days, border authorities have taken more than 10,000 migrants into custody daily, marking a record for daily encounters. 

Administration officials have been keenly aware that Title 42 would eventually come to an end as the coronavirus pandemic receded. Over recent weeks and months, Homeland Security officials met regularly within the department and with White House officials to outline plans for the expiration of Title 42 and prepare for different scenarios. As numbers soared this week, those preparations have been put to the test. 

But Homeland Security officials have, over the course of the last year, privately expressed relief at the eventual end of Title 42 because the return to old protocols carries more legal consequences for migrants who are not eligible to remain in the US. But the immediate aftermath, they recognized, would be a challenge. 

But the immediate aftermath remains a concern. “It’s certainly going to tax us,” said another Homeland Security official. 

On Wednesday, US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz downplayed the anticipated surge when Title 42 lifts, telling reporters that what was expected to occur after its expiration has happened in the “last five to six days.”

“After May 11, I don’t expect us to have 17-18,000 apprehensions like some predicted,” Ortiz said. “I think that what we see now is a continued effort by some to message incorrectly that once Title 42 goes away it’s going to be a free for all along the border. I don’t see that being the case.”

With an influx of migrants expected to enter the US with the expiration of Title 42, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is relying on its disease detection platforms and communities may need to watch for possible cases of infectious disease, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday.

Like in past situations, clinicians need to recognize “we may have under-vaccinated people who are settling in communities, and we need to watch out for infectious threats,” she said. 

During a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas, asked how diseases will be detected at the United States’ southern border.

Walensky said the agency has surveillance platforms in place and a global presence in 60 countries, where it’s working on health security and disease detection.

Recently, the CDC has issued Health Alert Network advisories on Marburg virus and measles. 

Crenshaw also pushed Walensky on what the CDC has done to prepare for the end of Title 42. She responded that the agency has been working with the Department of Homeland Security for three years and would get back to him with the specific details of the agency’s work.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House on Thursday in Washington, DC.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the Biden administration has done everything possible to prepare for the expiration of Title 42 Thursday night and the potential incoming surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border. 

“We have done all we can, with the resources that we have and within the system that we are operating under,” he said to reporters during the White House’s daily news briefing.  

Asked by CNN’s Jeremy Diamond if the administration is expecting chaos at the border — even as they’ve had two years to prepare for the expiration of Title 42 — Mayorkas said “the challenge is and is going to be very difficult, and we have spoken repeatedly about the fact that that difficult may only increase at this time of transition.”

“It is going to take a period of time for our approach to actually gain traction and show results, and I’ve been very clear about that,” Mayorkas said. 

Mayorkas once again warned of the incoming strain on personnel and border facilities, “but we know how to manage through such strain,” adding that that “as difficult as it will be,” he has confidence in personnel. 

Mayorkas would not answer how long he believes a migrant surge could last, instead repeating that the administration trusts its approach.

The Biden administration responded for the first time to the latest bus of migrants brought from the Texas border to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC — condemning transporting migrants “for political purposes.”

As CNN previously reported, nearly 50 migrants arrived in DC from Texas on Wednesday evening, believed to be part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s effort to transport migrants to Democratic-led cities as an affront to President Joe Biden’s border policies.   

The bus, carrying 47 migrants, arrived on Wednesday at the Naval Observatory. They were met by members from SAMU First Response, a migrant aid group, and taken to a church.

Another bus from Texas arrived Thursday morning.

Abbott has previously sent buses to DC in what the White House has called a “political stunt,” but there had been no arrivals in recent weeks. As border crossings tick up, migrant buses to the nation’s capital, as well as other cities, appear to be ramping up again.  

Earlier this week, CNN reported that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was also taking steps to once again send migrants to Democratic-led cities as an affront to the Biden administration’s immigration policies, joining other Republican governors who have bussed people north. 

Cities are preparing for a possible surge of migrants after Title 42 lapses today. Here’s what we know so far:

El Paso, Texas: As the city prepares, Mayor Oscar Leeser said his bigger concern is the lack of a long-term solution. “I can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Leeser said in a Wednesday press conference, adding that federal resources provided so far are only a temporary solution. “We all know that the immigration process is broken and needs to be fixed.”

The mayor said he visited the neighboring city of Juarez, Mexico, earlier in the day Wednesday to get a sense of how many people there may be headed to the US. He said he estimates the number at 5,000 to 10,000. “We are preparing for the unknown because we don’t know who’s coming, whether it’s families, whether it’s single adults,” said Leeser.

Brownsville, Texas: “We are as prepared as we can be,” Mayor Trey Mendez said in a statement to CNN. While it’s unclear whether the lifting of Title 42 would result in higher numbers of migrants, the city “has been on the front lines of this issue for decades,” the mayor said.

“We have built a model system that prioritizes efficiency in the processing of migrants, knowing that we are the front door to the rest of the country,” Mendez said. 

Some of Biden administration’s policies “will help keep the flow to manageable levels,” he added

“I believe that Title 8 will provide valuable legal assistance to the men and women on the ground to enforce our laws. We have had great communication with CBP, DHS and Secretary (Alejandro) Mayorkas, and they have been extremely supportive,” he said.

Yuma, Arizona: Mayor Douglas Nicholls told CNN Wednesday that his community has unanswered questions. 

“We don’t have a number, we don’t have a duration, we don’t have guaranteed funding from anybody. I really believe this being a federal responsibility, the federal government needed to take the last two years to prepare for this and have neglected to do so. And they need to figure out what they’re going to do to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the middle of my city,” he said. 

“We are working on a staged response depending upon how many people are on the streets, and the conditions as they come through, but they’re definitely fluid and rely upon federal and state funding and resources,” he added.

Nicholls said there is some tension and apprehension in the city, which sits close to the US-Mexico border.

The emergency he proclaimed in December 2021 remains in effect, he noted.

Officials have been warning the expiration of Title 42 could attract a surge of migrants and worsen an already challenging humanitarian crisis at the southern border, where communities in recent days have seen makeshift encampments proliferate as border crossings climb.

Issued during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Title 42 allowed authorities to swiftly turn away migrants at the US borders, ostensibly to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But that will change at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday, when the public health emergency and Title 42 are set to lapse.

Here’s what the border has looked like over the past few days:

Migrant families cross into El Paso, Texas, from Mexico on Monday, May 8.

Migrants wait to be processed by US Border Patrol in El Paso after crossing from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on May 10.

A woman is helped off a freight train after she became too scared to climb down from the roof on Sunday, May 7. Migrants have been traveling on top of freight trains as they headed north from southern Mexico. The woman's son, Leonardo Luzardo, told CNN it had been a long, cold night atop the train, feeling like their bodies were turning to ice. "It seemed like we were going to freeze," he said.

A migrant tears up as she peers from behind a border wall near San Diego on May 10.

A US Border Patrol agent watches over migrants who had gathered in San Diego on May 8.

See more images in our gallery here.

New York City leaders and community advocates gathered for a rally near city hall Thursday morning to call for more collaborative, long-term solutions to the asylum-seeker crisis in New York City, including finding more permanent solutions to housing, education, and legal services for them. 

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said more than 99% of the money that the city has spent on the surge in asylum-seekers has been spent on emergency housing, but more resources need to be used on providing legal support with asylum-seeker applications. Such resources also need support from the state and federal governments, Lander said. 

CNN has reached out to NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ office for comment.

Nelcy Garcia of Proyecto Faro, an immigrant advocacy organization based in Rockland County, said Rockland County Executive Ed Day’s attitude toward providing asylum for people fleeing violence has been variable. Rockland County is north of New York City and is party of the New York metro area.

The political leaders of both Rockland County and Orange County — which is also part of the New York metro area — have expressed concern, and even outrage, at Adams’ plan to transport willing migrants to other neighboring New York communities ahead of the expiration of Title 42.

New York City has assisted more than 61,000 migrants over the last year, but with Title 42 lifting Friday, those numbers are supposed to grow significantly, city spokesperson Fabien Levy told CNN Wednesday.  

In this aerial view, migrants stand in line as they wait to be processed by the US Border Patrol in Brownsville, Texas, on May 10.

The Brownsville Police Department, in Texas, has placed its auxiliary forces in uniform in the event they are needed to respond to help US Customs and Border Protection agents with the looming end of Title 42.

“We have our auxiliary forces ready, so our patrol services don’t get deployed, and our citizens are provided with the same service,” Sandoval said. “Other than that, we are not doing anything different than normal.”

Brownsville sits on the southern border.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock visits Montbello Career and Technical High School in Denver, Colorado, on March 3.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock called on the federal government to help communities bracing for an influx of migrants, also announcing the activation of the city’s Emergency Operations Center ahead of the expiration of Title 42 at midnight.

“Denver cannot continue to financially shoulder this burden alone. Our reserves are not bottomless. And if this situation extends for a prolonged period of time, some hard choices are going to have to be made,” Hancock said Thursday.

The mayor said in March and April, the city saw 20 to 30 arrivals of migrants per day. On Tuesday, it saw close to 400 arrivals.

“With the upwards of 150,000 migrants reported as being at the border right now and with Title 42 expiring tonight, we anticipate these numbers are only going to increase,” Hancock said.

The mayor pushed back against the idea that the city had brought the situation on itself through its policy of welcoming immigrants.

“So we’re at a breaking point again, and Washington can’t keep kicking the can down the road while we’re stuck in the cycle of emergencies,” the mayor continued. “It’s simply not sustainable.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks at a press conference on Thursday.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said it was a difficult decision to sign an executive order suspending portions of the city’s right-to-shelter law, but the impending influx of migrants forced the city’s hand.

Citing the part of the law that states every family must have a kitchen and a bathroom, for example, the mayor said “that’s just not realistic when you’re getting 4,200 people in your city.”

He said the city is getting an average of 500 people a day prior to Title 42 being lifted. 

“Our desire is not to put the children and families in dormitory settings. Our desire is to manage a humanitarian crisis,” he continued.

“Our children and families are not sleeping on the streets. We are feeding thousands of people,” he said adding the families are getting laundry service, medical service, mental health support, legal advice and education for children. “What we’re doing is unprecedented to any other municipality.”

Where to house people: The mayor said “everything is on the table.”

He recalled learning Sunday that there were no more hotel spaces, and having to open up space in the gym at a former police academy.

Airport hangars are also on the table because they are convertible warehouse space, he said. 

He also floated Floyd Bennett Field — a national park that was NYC’s first municipal airport, and Creedmoor, a state psychiatric facility.

On Texas Gov. Abbott: Adams sought to draw a contrast between himself and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, as Adams’ administration tries to move migrants to upstate New York.

He also said his administration will “challenge all of the legal obstacles that are attempting to be placed in our way.”

Adams’ office has repeatedly said the federal government has fallen short in its response to roughly one year of other states busing migrants to New York.

Heavy rain will begin to fall in Texas between Del Rio and Laredo on Friday through the weekend, impacting major points of entry, such as Eagle Pass, which could produce life-threatening flash floods.

“A significant flash flood event could evolve Friday night across portions of south central TX,” the Weather Prediction Center warned.

The center has placed a level 3 out of 4 “moderate risk” of flash flooding for this region for Friday. This rainfall event will result in training storms, meaning they will sit over the same area for lengthy periods of time, increasing the likelihood of flash flooding.

The center said areas could see more than six inches of rainfall, with rates of two to three inches per hour.

There’s also a level 3 out of 4 “moderate risk” of flash flooding for Saturday, which includes similar areas along the Mexico-Texas border, including the city of Laredo.

While the greatest threat for flash flooding will be Friday through Saturday, showers and heavy downpours will linger through Monday.

In addition to flood threat, the storms could be severe and bring damaging winds, lightning and hail. 

The Storm Prediction Center has placed portions of the region in a level 2 out of 5 “slight risk” of severe storms on Friday, which includes Del Rio and Laredo.

Hail could be greater than quarter size and even a tornado or two can’t be ruled out with these storms, according to the National Weather Service.

A US Border Patrol agent during a tour with the US Customs and Border Protection on May 10, 2021 in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego County, California.

The House will vote Thursday on a sweeping GOP border security bill after Republican leaders worked to lock down votes and win over holdouts within their own party.

The GOP border bill is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House has issued a veto threat. But the bill is expected to pass in the House and will serve as a messaging opportunity for the House Republican majority on one of their signature priorities. Final passage has been planned to coincide with the expiration of Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed certain migrants to be turned away at the border.

The bill would restart construction of a border wall, increase funding for border agents and upgraded border technology, reinstate the “remain in Mexico” policy, place new restrictions on asylum seekers, and enhance requirements for E-verify, a database employers use to verify immigration status.

Republican leaders worked for months to negotiate the border and immigration package, a key piece of legislation for the GOP majority focused on an issue Republican lawmakers ran on in the midterms. But crafting immigration policy has proven complicated for House Republicans, exposing divisions within the GOP conference.

Thursday’s vote will take place after House GOP leaders agreed to make last-minute changes to the package amid concerns over various provisions from some of their members.

Read more here.

A top State Department official will meet Thursday with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi to discuss the lifting of Title 42, the State Department said in a media note.

Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma will meet Grandi to “discuss the current situation in the Western Hemisphere with a particular focus on the lifting of Title 42, exchange notes on the global humanitarian situation, and review global refugee resettlement operations,” the statement said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed the Biden administration on the Senate floor as Title 42 is set to expire tonight.

“The Biden administration’s reckless policies have created chaos on our southern border and further mistakes from the Democrats are taking things from very bad to even worse,” he said.

McConnell targeted both President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, calling them “incapable, unwilling, or uninterested in defending and maintaining our borders.”

McConnell claimed the expiration of Title 42 “wouldn’t pose a crisis for an administration that was willing to get tough on its own and enforce existing immigration law, but Democrats don’t seem to be willing to do that.”

The Kentucky Republican repeated Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s attack that Democratic immigration policies, including a smartphone app, amount to “Ticketmaster for illegal immigrants.”

The State Department and DHS have urged asylum-seekers to use a mobile app to make an appointment at a port of entry rather than trying to cross the border.

McConnell also attacked his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, saying they are “claiming to be outraged that President Biden doesn’t have a better plan,” but that “every Senate Democrat voted in unison to let Title 42 lapse with no better solution in place” when Senate Republicans tried to put it to a vote last year.

“The country reaps what the Democrats sowed,” McConnell said.

With the lifting of Title 42 Thursday, the Biden administration is enacting several changes that authorities hope will relieve pressure on the border and help officials respond.

The Department of Homeland Security previously released a six-pillar plan that outlined the department’s operations post-Title 42, including setting up additional facilities along the border to process migrants, bolstering transportation and leaning on a fast-track deportation process known as “expedited removal.” Administration officials are still relying on that plan.

In addition, a new regulation expected to go into effect this week would largely ban migrants who traveled through other countries on their way to the US-Mexico border from applying for asylum in the United States if they did not already ask for asylum in those other countries they passed through.

While there are some exceptions, the new asylum rule would generally apply to migrants who unlawfully cross the US-Mexico border. It would not apply to unaccompanied migrant children.

Officials are also urging asylum-seekers to use a mobile app to make an appointment at a port of entry rather than trying to cross the border.

The planned asylum restrictions have drawn sharp criticism from immigrant rights advocates since they were proposed earlier this year, and are likely to face legal challenges.

A vacant middle school in El Paso, Texas, is on standby to provide shelter to migrants as the pandemic-era Title 42 expires Thursday.

Reporters were allowed to tour Bassett Middle School Wednesday, where rooms had been converted into dormitory and cafeteria space.

Former classroom and gymnasium space was lined with green cots from the American Red Cross, which will operate the shelter. City officials did not say the exact day when the shelter would be opened, saying it will only be used when needed to accommodate the number of migrants who have entered El Paso.

The same school was used as a shelter last December during another period of increased migrant border crossings.

Members of the Texas National Guard are deployed to an area of high migrant crossings along the US-Mexico border on May 10 in Brownsville, Texas.

The United States is bracing for the expiration of a pandemic-era border restriction Thursday, with officials fearing it will spur a surge of migrants and exacerbate an already challenging humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

While first implemented under the Trump administration as a response to the pandemic, Title 42 has been kept in place by the courts and used by the Biden administration to deal with migrants at the border.

That will change Thursday when the public health emergency – and Title 42 along with it – is set to lapse amid unprecedented mass migration in the Western Hemisphere.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made a direct appeal to migrants traveling to the border, saying last week: “The border is not open, it has not been open, and it will not be open subsequent to May 11.” 

Mayorkas acknowledged the “very serious” situation at the US-Mexico border, adding that smugglers are spreading misinformation “to lure vulnerable people to the southern border, and those individuals will only be returned.” 

Daily encounters have continued to climb since the beginning of this week. Homeland Security officials predict daily encounters could reach about 10,000 after Title 42 lifts.

The Biden administration has been putting plans in motion to try to manage an anticipated surge at the US-Mexico border in the immediate aftermath of Title 42 lifting, including bolstering capacity and transportation, preparing for speedy deportations, and expediting asylum processing.

US Vice President Kamala Harris takes part in a meeting with Guatemalan justice sector leaders in Washington, DC, in 2021.

As President Joe Biden’s approach to migration at the US-Mexico border confronts its most critical test yet when Title 42 expires, Vice President Kamala Harris, who leads the administration’s effort to address the root cause of migration in Central America, will face what’s likely to be her own perception problem.

It’s a two-year-old task, assigned by Biden, that’s placed Harris at the apex of political vulnerability, with Republicans’ consistently framing her as the “border czar,” who has not quelled the historic surge of migration in the Western Hemisphere.

Though Harris has rejected GOP framing that she’s responsible for border policy, she’s struggled to change the narrative. And flare ups at the border will come almost a month after Biden and Harris launched their 2024 reelection bid, testing voters opinions on this emotionally charged issue.

Migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to the US has reached notable lows since its height in 2021, while migrants from other countries like Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua have increased dramatically.

Publicly, the vice president’s office has called the current downward trend “encouraging,” and privately, aides cite investments in the region under Harris’ guidance as one of many factors for the drop.

So far, the vice president has secured more than $4.2 billion in private sector commitments from companies as a fundamental part of her plan to incentivize would-be migrants to stay home. Around 47 entities are collaborating across financial services, textiles and apparel, agriculture, technology, telecommunications, and nonprofit sectors to bolster the region’s economy, according to a White House fact sheet from February, the last major public update.

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei during a press conference at the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura in Guatemala City in 2021. 

Diplomatically, Harris has visited Guatemala and Honduras. She’s held in-person and on the phone conversations with those counterparts but affronts to democracy and corruption concerns have limited Harris’ ability to fully engage, officials say.

But the next 48-hours and likely weeks ahead once Title 42 is lifted will test the credibility and efficacy of the vice president’s mission.

Read more here.

An aerial image shows migrants waiting along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing after crossing the Rio Grande river into the US in El Paso, Texas on May 10.

With just hours left before Title 42 expires Thursday night, the US is wrapping up a surge of asylum officers, troops and federal agents toward the southern border, anticipating the Trump-era border restriction policy’s demise could spur an even heavier migrant influx than the country has already seen in recent weeks.

About 1,000 asylum officers were being sent to border patrol and immigration detention facilities to help screen asylum requests, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday. And US Secret Service agents and US marshals, among other federal workers, also are expected to deploy to help border authorities, two Homeland Security officials told CNN.

That’s on top of the 550 US troops – mostly from the Army – that began a mission Wednesday to support Customs and Border Protection staff at the US-Mexico border, where officials said they’ll help monitor the border and provide data entry and warehouse support, but not perform law enforcement duties.

“We are clear-eyed about the challenges we are likely to face in the days and weeks ahead, which have the potential to be very difficult,” Mayorkas told reporters Wednesday in Washington.

The US expects to see large numbers of migrants at the southern border for weeks to come, Mayorkas said.

Migrants walk up the bank on the US side of the Rio Grande river, as seen from Matamoros, Mexico, on Wednesday, May 10.

Texas National Guard troops set up razor wire near hundreds of migrants who had crossed into the United States from Mexico on May 9 in El Paso, Texas. 

Hundreds of US troops began a new mission along the southern border Wednesday as officials and a surge of migrants brace for what’s to come when a Trump-era border restriction policy expires late Thursday.

Some 550 troops, mostly from the Army, will support US Customs and Border Protection by monitoring the border and doing data entry and warehouse support, US Northern Command spokesperson John Cornelio said.

Another 950 troops, largely from the Marines and Army, will arrive by the end of the month, Cornelio said.

Their assistance is intended to free up resources at the DHS so that US Customs and Border Protection can operate more freely in the field, sources told CNN.

The US military has long provided support to the Department of Homeland Security on the border and a surge of personnel to the area is not unprecedented.

Some background: Former President Donald Trump’s administration approved similar troop surges to the border. In early 2019, over 3,000 additional active-duty troops were deployed to the southern US border to bolster security, joining the 2,300 troops already there.

US President Joe Biden speaks during an event in New York on May 10.

As the Title 42 expiration looms, US officials are working closely with humanitarian nongovernmental organizations that support migrants and expanded transportation contracts, a senior Biden administration official said.

Still, President Joe Biden on Tuesday acknowledged the policy’s expiration and the migrant surge expected to follow are “going to be chaotic for a while.”

The administration is working to set up regional processing centers in countries migrants traverse on their way to the US southern border so they can apply there to come to the US, the president said. It’s unclear when those centers will be running.

States and cities near and far from the border have also been preparing for the expected surge:

Officials in Brownsville, Texas, are talking with bus operators and airlines about increasing outbound services and with nongovernmental organizations about expanding space for migrants.

“Several safety measures are also being enhanced to ensure the safety of the public and migrants,” said Fire Chief Jarrett Sheldon, who runs emergency management for the city.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order Tuesday allowing cities and the state to tap into more resources ahead of Title 42’s expiration. And Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued an emergency declaration, saying the city’s resources are now stretched to “the breaking point” and existing facilities are full.

As New York grapples with a surge in migrant arrivals, Orangetown, in Rockland County, was granted a temporary restraining order Tuesday to keep a hotel in the town from accepting 30 migrant men that the New York City mayor’s office planned to send Wednesday, Town Supervisor Teresa Kenny announced.

Rockland County officials in recent days have criticized New York Mayor Eric Adams for not informing them about the city’s plans to bus migrants to that county. Sending willing migrants to hotels outside New York City is part of what Adams called a “decompression strategy” as city shelter space runs out and migrant arrivals increase.

CNN’s Rosa Flores, Gloria Pazmino and Norma Galeana reported from El Paso, Texas, while Nouran Salahieh reported and wrote in Los Angeles. CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Steve Contorno, Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky contributed to this report.

The House will vote on Republicans’ wide-ranging border security package today — the same day the Covid-era Title 42 policy that has enabled the US to swiftly expel certain migrants is set to expire, GOP leadership sources told CNN. 

The bill, known as HR 2, would codify some of the border programs implemented by former President Donald Trump, including the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which mandated that migrants stay in Mexico while going through the asylum process.

Among other provisions, it would also:

Last month, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Republicans have the necessary votes to pass the legislation in the chamber, despite internal party divisions over how strict certain policies in the legislation should be. (The GOP border bill is dead on arrival in the Senate.)

His comments followed weeks of intraparty negotiations that resulted in the softening of some provisions to get key members, such as Texas Reps. Chip Roy and Tony Gonzalez, and several moderate Republicans on board.

The timing of the vote is designed to directly coincide with the end of Title 42. The policy, first enacted by Trump and continued by President Joe Biden, has allowed border authorities to quickly turn away migrants, citing a public health emergency. 

Lawmakers in both parties have been sounding the alarm over the expected influx of migrants and have criticized the Biden administration for not being more prepared for the deadline. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives for a press conference on April 18.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order Wednesday suspending portions of the city’s right-to-shelter law, citing the impending influx of more migrants. 

The law, when in force, requires the city to provide shelter to anyone who requests it, including migrants who’ve recently arrived.

“In an effort to mitigate those risks and find room within our shelter system, the city has temporarily suspended the policy surrounding timing for placements in shelters,” Levy added. “This is not a decision taken lightly and we will make every effort to get asylum seekers into shelter as quickly as possible as we have done since day one.”

The order takes effect immediately and will remain in effect for five days, until it is modified or terminated, according to the order. 

But critics condemned the move, saying the order could significantly slow the time it takes for families to get shelter, and could place families with children in dangerous group settings.

New York City has cared for more than 61,000 migrants over the last year, but with Title 42 lifting tomorrow, those numbers are supposed to grow significantly, mayor’s spokesperson Levy said, adding the “worst may be yet to come” and the city may need federal and state help.

“No asylum seeking-family that has sought shelter from us over the last year has slept on the street thanks to our colossal efforts, but without more support from our federal and state partners, we are concerned the worst may be yet to come,” Levy said in a statement.

“These long-standing laws have served as sound policy, ensuring the humane treatment of families in need, but Mayor Adams is heading down a dangerous road,” The Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless said. “The City has other options, including implementing recommendations we have offered many times since last summer to transition those residing in shelters to permanent housing, which will create much-needed shelter capacity”. 

“We are currently evaluating the executive order and considering all of our options, including litigation,” they added.

US Border Patrol vehicles take away groups of migrants, including unaccompanied minors who had crossed over from Mexico on May 9 in El Paso, Texas.

Border communities along the US-Mexico border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico are bracing for a further influx of migrants as the pandemic-era rule known as Title 42 is set to expire Thursday.

The communities have already seen an increase in migrant arrivals in the last few days and weeks. In Tijuana, Mexico, about 6,000 migrants are waiting in shelters, in homes and other areas of the city – which is near San Diego, California, according to Enrique Lucero, Tijuana’s director of migrant affairs.  

Lucero said an increasing number of migrants are deciding to jump the border fence and swim across the border. But the numbers in shelters don’t drop because migrants are arriving every day and from nationalities he has never seen before like Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.   

“This tells us that the bands of human traffickers are strengthening, and they are utilizing social media networks to deceive migrants,” Lucero said. 

In El Paso, Texas – a city that’s under a state of emergency — thousands of migrants have been living on the streets for days. City officials closed the street in front of one migrant shelter for public safety reasons and advised motorists to be careful in the area.  

Earlier this week, the El Paso Border Patrol Chief tweeted videos and photos of large groups of migrants who have turned themselves into border patrol and are waiting to be processed by US immigration authorities.

In Del Rio, Texas, the pace of migrant arrivals started increasing in the past two weeks, according to Tiffany Burrow from the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition (VVBHC). 

Burrow says that her respite center in the city has been receiving migrants from El Paso and Brownsville. It’s a practice Border Patrol calls decompression – or the transferring of migrants from areas at capacity to facilities with processing space. 

In McAllen, Texas, the number of migrants being released to Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley grew from 150 to 400 per day in the last week or two, according to Sister Norma Pimentel, the organization’s executive director. 

“We anticipate numbers to continue increasing especially once Title 42 is lifted. Our humanitarian response will continue providing care to all immigrants border patrol releases to us,” Pimentel said. 

The city of Brownsville, Texas – where the community is mourning the deaths of 8 people after a car plowed through a crowd – has declared a state of emergency after a sudden influx of migrants.

The non-profit organization “Team Brownsville” has been receiving about 1,000 migrants per day at its respite center, according to Sergio Cordova, one of the founders. 

Erick Mendoza Caceres, a migrant from Honduras, wipes tears from his face on Tuesday while waiting outside a Customs and Border Patrol Enforcement center in El Paso, Texas.

As the expiration of Title 42 approaches, some migrants in El Paso, Texas, are growing desperate and at times falling victim to scams that promise legal paperwork and a chance to travel freely.

Erick Mendoza Caceres, a migrant from Honduras, on Tuesday held one of the flyers border officers were distributing, along with a document he said cost him $50 and guaranteed the ability to travel within the country.

Caceres is likely was a victim of one of the many scams being perpetrated against unknowing migrants desperate for documentation and answers, El Paso city officials told CNN.

“The concern is that there are some migrants that are being taken advantage of, purchasing fake documentation, and that is a concern for us because we cannot provide support if they’re getting fake documentation,” El Paso spokesperson Laura Cruz-Acosta said. “We need to provide true documentation, and that true documentation really comes from the federal government.”

Despite the threat of being detained, Caceres was hopeful he could get clarity on the veracity of his paperwork, he told CNN.

Asked what he would do if he were deported, he broke down in tears.

CNN’s Rosa Flores, Gloria Pazmino and Norma Galeana reported from El Paso, Texas.

Migrants stand near the border wall after having crossed the US-Mexico border to turn themselves in to US Border Patrol agents in El Paso, Texas, on May 10.

In El Paso, Texas, several migrants waited in line Tuesday under the blazing sun at a Customs and Border Protection Center with plans to turn themselves in. They’d crossed into El Paso undetected and wanted to surrender to immigration authorities in hopes of seeking asylum and pleading their case, they told CNN.

Among them were Katia Arzuza, her husband and their teenage daughter.

“We want the permit, but most importantly, the work permit, to be legal in the country,” Arzuza told CNN. “We would like them to give us everything, permanent residency to stay in the country. We don’t want to go back.”

As Arzuza spoke, a border patrol officer told the trio that families with minors would go to the front of the line. The family hustled forward, uncertain what they’d find.

When Title 42 lifts, US officials will lean more on the decades-old Title 8, under which migrants could face more severe consequences for crossing the border unlawfully, such as being barred from entering the US for at least five years, they’ve said.

Asylum-seekers who cross the border without first applying for asylum could be removed under Title 8 authority.

While Title 8 carries more legal consequences, especially for those caught a second time, processing times under that authority take longer than Title 42 expulsions and could strain already pinched resources, creating a bottleneck amid heavy mass migration.

Border officials had already been apprehending migrants at the border under Title 8, with more than 1.15 million people apprehended under that authority at the southern border in fiscal year 2022, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

CNN’s Rosa Flores, Gloria Pazmino and Norma Galeana reported from El Paso.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a public health order that officials said aimed to stop the spread of Covid-19. The order allowed authorities to swiftly expel migrants at US land borders.

The policy is widely known as Title 42, for the portion of US code that allowed the CDC director to issue it.

Migrants encountered under Title 42 have been either returned to their home countries or sent back into Mexico. Under the policy, authorities have expelled migrants at the US-Mexico border more than 2.8 million times since the policy began, according to US Customs and Border Protection data.

The policy, which officials have relied on to manage a spiraling situation at the border, is set to end at 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday. It’s end comes as the Biden administration is ending the Covid-19 public health emergency nationally.