Border appears calm after lifting of pandemic asylum restrictions
Border appears calm after lifting of pandemic asylum restrictions
A woman holds up her wristband to show U.S. Border Patrol agents she and her daughter have been waiting the longest between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Women hold their wristbands high in the hope they are chosen by U.S. Border Patrol agents to be taken to processing after waiting for days between two border walls to apply for asylum Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A man jokes with a U.S. Border Patrol agent as he and other migrants wait between two border walls to apply for asylum Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
As the sun sets, migrants wait outside a gate in the border fence to enter into El Paso, Texas, to be processed by the Border Patrol, Thursday, May 11, 2023. Migrants rushed across the Mexico border, racing to enter the U.S. before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nation’s beleaguered immigration system. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Police monitor as migrants from a group of 50, who were chosen by the Mexican “Casa Migrante” organization, walk cross the Puerto Nuevo bridge from Matamoros, Mexico, to be processed by U.S. immigration officials, early Friday, May 12, 2023, the day after U.S. pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. According to Mexican immigration officials, migrants will be organized to cross in groups of 50. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Razor wire and trash cover the U.S. side of the Rio Grande river, empty the morning after U.S. pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted, seen from Matamoros, Mexico, early Friday, May 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A group of 50 migrants wait outside a Mexican immigration office as they are organized by the Casa Migrante organization to cross the US-Mexico border from Matamoros, Mexico, over the Puerto Nuevo bridge by foot and be processed by U.S. immigration officials, early Friday, May 12, 2023, the day after pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. According to Mexican immigration officials, migrants will be organized to cross in groups of 50. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Migrants from a group of 50, chosen by the Casa Migrante organization, walk across the Puerto Nuevo bridge from Matamoros, Mexico, to be processed by U.S. immigration officials, early Friday, May 12, 2023, the day after pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. According to Mexican immigration officials, migrants will be organized to cross in groups of 50. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
People line up as they wait to apply for asylum between two border walls, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Migrants hold documents as they wait for their appointments to be processed by U.S. immigration officials on the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, Friday, May 12, 2023, in Hidalgo, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Venezuelan migrant Dayana Ibarra holds her immigration paperwork outside the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Venezuelan migrant Dayana Ibarra, right, holding her immigration paperwork, sits with other migrants outside the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
A migrant sleeps outside the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
A migrant family from Venezuela arrives to the shelter run by the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Venezuelan migrant Said Jose wipes his tears while looking for his girlfriend who he was separated from while in detention, at the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Colombian migrant Shristian Villa, 19, waits for food from the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Women react as they are chosen by U.S. Border Patrol agents to be taken to processing after waiting for days between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A woman cries as she is chosen by U.S. Border Patrol agents to be taken to processing after waiting for days between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A woman holds up her wristband to show U.S. Border Patrol agents she and her daughter have been waiting the longest between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A woman holds up her wristband to show U.S. Border Patrol agents she and her daughter have been waiting the longest between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Women hold their wristbands high in the hope they are chosen by U.S. Border Patrol agents to be taken to processing after waiting for days between two border walls to apply for asylum Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Women hold their wristbands high in the hope they are chosen by U.S. Border Patrol agents to be taken to processing after waiting for days between two border walls to apply for asylum Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A man jokes with a U.S. Border Patrol agent as he and other migrants wait between two border walls to apply for asylum Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A man jokes with a U.S. Border Patrol agent as he and other migrants wait between two border walls to apply for asylum Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
As the sun sets, migrants wait outside a gate in the border fence to enter into El Paso, Texas, to be processed by the Border Patrol, Thursday, May 11, 2023. Migrants rushed across the Mexico border, racing to enter the U.S. before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nation’s beleaguered immigration system. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
As the sun sets, migrants wait outside a gate in the border fence to enter into El Paso, Texas, to be processed by the Border Patrol, Thursday, May 11, 2023. Migrants rushed across the Mexico border, racing to enter the U.S. before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nation’s beleaguered immigration system. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Police monitor as migrants from a group of 50, who were chosen by the Mexican “Casa Migrante” organization, walk cross the Puerto Nuevo bridge from Matamoros, Mexico, to be processed by U.S. immigration officials, early Friday, May 12, 2023, the day after U.S. pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. According to Mexican immigration officials, migrants will be organized to cross in groups of 50. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Police monitor as migrants from a group of 50, who were chosen by the Mexican “Casa Migrante” organization, walk cross the Puerto Nuevo bridge from Matamoros, Mexico, to be processed by U.S. immigration officials, early Friday, May 12, 2023, the day after U.S. pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. According to Mexican immigration officials, migrants will be organized to cross in groups of 50. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Razor wire and trash cover the U.S. side of the Rio Grande river, empty the morning after U.S. pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted, seen from Matamoros, Mexico, early Friday, May 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Razor wire and trash cover the U.S. side of the Rio Grande river, empty the morning after U.S. pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted, seen from Matamoros, Mexico, early Friday, May 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A group of 50 migrants wait outside a Mexican immigration office as they are organized by the Casa Migrante organization to cross the US-Mexico border from Matamoros, Mexico, over the Puerto Nuevo bridge by foot and be processed by U.S. immigration officials, early Friday, May 12, 2023, the day after pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. According to Mexican immigration officials, migrants will be organized to cross in groups of 50. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A group of 50 migrants wait outside a Mexican immigration office as they are organized by the Casa Migrante organization to cross the US-Mexico border from Matamoros, Mexico, over the Puerto Nuevo bridge by foot and be processed by U.S. immigration officials, early Friday, May 12, 2023, the day after pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. According to Mexican immigration officials, migrants will be organized to cross in groups of 50. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Migrants from a group of 50, chosen by the Casa Migrante organization, walk across the Puerto Nuevo bridge from Matamoros, Mexico, to be processed by U.S. immigration officials, early Friday, May 12, 2023, the day after pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. According to Mexican immigration officials, migrants will be organized to cross in groups of 50. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Migrants from a group of 50, chosen by the Casa Migrante organization, walk across the Puerto Nuevo bridge from Matamoros, Mexico, to be processed by U.S. immigration officials, early Friday, May 12, 2023, the day after pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted. According to Mexican immigration officials, migrants will be organized to cross in groups of 50. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
People line up as they wait to apply for asylum between two border walls, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
People line up as they wait to apply for asylum between two border walls, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. Hundreds of migrants remain waiting between the two walls, many for days. The U.S. entered a new immigration enforcement era Friday, ending a three-year-old asylum restriction and enacting a set of strict new rules that the Biden administration hopes will stabilize the U.S.-Mexico border and push migrants to apply for protections where they are, skipping the dangerous journey north. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Migrants hold documents as they wait for their appointments to be processed by U.S. immigration officials on the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, Friday, May 12, 2023, in Hidalgo, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Migrants hold documents as they wait for their appointments to be processed by U.S. immigration officials on the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, Friday, May 12, 2023, in Hidalgo, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Venezuelan migrant Dayana Ibarra holds her immigration paperwork outside the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Venezuelan migrant Dayana Ibarra holds her immigration paperwork outside the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Venezuelan migrant Dayana Ibarra, right, holding her immigration paperwork, sits with other migrants outside the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Venezuelan migrant Dayana Ibarra, right, holding her immigration paperwork, sits with other migrants outside the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
A migrant sleeps outside the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
A migrant sleeps outside the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
A migrant family from Venezuela arrives to the shelter run by the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
A migrant family from Venezuela arrives to the shelter run by the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Venezuelan migrant Said Jose wipes his tears while looking for his girlfriend who he was separated from while in detention, at the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Venezuelan migrant Said Jose wipes his tears while looking for his girlfriend who he was separated from while in detention, at the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Colombian migrant Shristian Villa, 19, waits for food from the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Colombian migrant Shristian Villa, 19, waits for food from the Sacred Heart Church shelter in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Women react as they are chosen by U.S. Border Patrol agents to be taken to processing after waiting for days between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Women react as they are chosen by U.S. Border Patrol agents to be taken to processing after waiting for days between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A woman cries as she is chosen by U.S. Border Patrol agents to be taken to processing after waiting for days between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A woman cries as she is chosen by U.S. Border Patrol agents to be taken to processing after waiting for days between two border walls to apply for asylum, Friday, May 12, 2023, in San Diego. The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that had been feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
The border between the U.S. and Mexico was relatively calm Friday, offering few signs of the chaos that was feared following a rush by worried migrants to enter the U.S. before the end of pandemic-related immigration restrictions.
Less than 24 hours after the rules known as Title 42 were lifted, migrants and government officials were still assessing the effect of the change and the new regulations adopted by President Joe Biden’s administration to stabilize the region.
“We did not see any substantial increase in immigration this morning,” said Blas Nunez-Neto assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security. He said the agency did not have specific numbers.
Migrants along the border continued to wade into the Rio Grande to take their chances getting into the U.S. while defying officials shouting for them to turn back. Others hunched over cellphones trying to access an appointment-scheduling app that that is a centerpiece of the new system. Migrants with appointments walked across a bridge hoping for a new life. And lawsuits sought to stop some of the measures.
The Biden administration has said the revamped system is designed to crack down on illegal crossings and to offer a new legal pathway for migrants who often pay thousands of dollars to smugglers to get them to the border. On Friday, Biden commended Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for his country’s collaboration with the U.S. and Canada to establish migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers will be able to apply for refuge.
Migrants are now essentially barred from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they did not first apply online or seek protection in the countries they traveled through. Families allowed in as their immigration cases progress will face curfews and GPS monitoring.
Across the river from El Paso in Ciudad Juárez, many migrants watched their cellphones in hopes of getting a coveted appointment to seek entry. The application to register to enter the U.S. had changed, and some were explaining to others how to use it. Most were resigned to wait.
“I hope it’s a little better and that the appointments are streamlined a little more,” said Yeremy Depablos, 21, a Venezuelan traveling with seven cousins who has been waiting in the city for a month. Fearing deportation, Depablos did not want to cross illegally. “We have to do it the legal way.”
The legal pathways touted by the administration consist of a program that permits up to 30,000 people a month from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter if they apply online with a financial sponsor and enter through an airport.
About 100 processing centers are opening in Guatemala, Colombia and elsewhere for migrants to apply to go to the U.S., Spain or Canada. Up to 1,000 can enter daily through land crossings with Mexico if they snag an appointment on the app.
If it works, the system could fundamentally alter how migrants come to the southern border. But Biden, who is running for reelection, faces withering criticism from migrant advocates, who say he’s abandoning more humanitarian methods, and from Republicans, who claim he’s soft on border security.
At the Chaparral port of entry in Tijuana on Friday, a few migrants approached U.S. authorities after not being able to access the appointment app. One of them, a Salvadoran man named Jairo, said he was fleeing death threats back home.
“We are truly afraid,” said Jairo who was traveling with his partner and their 3-year-old son and declined to share his last name. “We can’t remain any longer in Mexico and we can’t go back to Guatemala or El Salvador. If the U.S. can’t take us, we hope they can direct us to another country that can.”
Farther east, small groups of Haitian migrants with appointments to request asylum crossed the Gateway International Bridge connecting Matamoros, Mexico, with Brownsville, Texas. They crossed with the assistance of a nongovernmental organization, passing the usual commuter traffic of students and workers lined up on the bridge’s pedestrian path.
In downtown El Paso, a few dozen migrants lingered outside Sacred Heart Catholic Church and shelter where as recently as Tuesday nearly 2,000 migrants were camped. Faith leaders in the city are striving to provide shelter, legal advice and prayer for migrants as they navigate new restrictions.
The Rev. Daniel Mora said most of the migrants took heed of flyers distributed this week by U.S. immigration authorities offering a “last chance” to submit to processing and left. El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said that 1,800 migrants turned themselves over to Customs and Border Protection on Thursday.
Melissa López, executive director for Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services at El Paso, said many migrants have been willing to follow the legal pathway created by the federal government, but there is also fear about deportation and possible criminal penalties for people who cross the border illegally.
Ruben Garcia, director of the Annunciation House shelter in El Paso and coordinator for a regional network on migrant shelters, said he fears that migrants passing through Mexico may be diverted by smugglers away from cities with humanitarian infrastructure toward remote, desolate stretches of the border. He said thousands of migrants are currently passing through two U.S. immigration processing centers in El Paso, amid uncertainty about ensuing deportations and monitored releases.
The lull in border crossings follows a recent surge of crossings by migrants in hopes of being allowed to stay in the United States before the Title 42 restrictions expired.
Title 42 had been in place since March 2020. It allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. has declared the national emergency over, ending the restrictions.
While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the U.S. for five years and possible criminal prosecution.
Border holding facilities were already far beyond capacity in the run-up to Title 42’s expiration. Officials had orders to release migrants with a notice to report to an immigration office if overcrowding and other factors became critical.
But late Thursday, a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump temporarily halted the administration’s plans to release people into the U.S. and set a court date on whether to extend the ruling. Customs and Border Protection said it would comply, but called it a “harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding.”
Other parts of the administration’s immigration plan were also in legal peril.
Advocacy groups including the ACLU sued the administration on its new asylum rules minutes before they took effect. Their lawsuit alleges the administration policy is no different than one adopted by Trump, which was rejected by the same court.
The Biden administration says its rule is different, arguing that it’s not an outright ban but imposes a higher burden of proof to get asylum and that it pairs restrictions with other newly opened legal pathways.
ACLU National Political Director Maribel Hernández Rivera said many new required steps were unrealistic.
“Asylum is not something you schedule when you are fleeing for your life,” she said.
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Gonzalez reported from Brownsville, Texas, and Spagat from Tijuana, Mexico. Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Rebecca Santana in Washington; Christopher Sherman in Mexico City; Julie Watson and Suman Naishadham in Tijuana, Mexico; Gerardo Carrillo in Matamoros, Mexico; Maria Verza in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Gisela Salomon in Miami; and Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico contributed to this report.