DHS expects up to 18,000 illegal immigrants a day once Title 42 is lifted



As many as 18,000 migrants could illegally cross the southern border per day once the Trump-era Title 42 regulation is repealed by the Biden administration.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged that lifting the regulation will increase strain on federal offices that are already stretched thin in their pursuit to contain the ongoing immigration crisis at the country’s southern border, but the New York Post reported he still intends to move forward with Title 42’s repeal.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) instituted Title 42 during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It grants border officials the ability to immediately expel migrants trying to illegally enter the U.S. through its shared southern border with Mexico.

While on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mayorkas said, “Title 42 is a public health authority. So, what we started to do in September of last year was to prepare for its end.”

“We’re not projecting 18,000, but what we do in the department is we plan for different scenarios,” Mayorkas continued. “So, we’re ready for anything.”

When the show’s host, Dana Bash, pressed Mayorkas on whether the Department of Homeland Security would be able to handle an influx of migrants that size, he said the department would be prepared, but the system would be put under “extraordinary strain.”

Mayorkas said, “It is our responsibility to be prepared for different scenarios, and that is what we are doing, and we have incredibly talented and dedicated people. There is no question if in fact we reach that number, that is going to be an extraordinary strain on our system.”

He continued, “That is why the plan we have prepared calls for a number of different actions, not just the domestic arena but also with our partners in the south.”

This past month, in a move that garnered bipartisan criticism, the CDC announced that it would allow Title 42 to expire in late May.

In March 2022, there were more than 220,000 encounters between illegal immigrants and border officials. This is the highest number of any month since the start of Joe Biden’s presidency.

In response to this, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives took Mayorkas to task over the Biden administration’s inability to end the seemingly perpetual influx of illegal immigrants.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) grilled Mayorkas, telling him that by allowing Title 42 to be repealed he was “going to make it worse.”

Jordan said, “We have a secretary of Homeland Security who is intentionally, deliberately, in a premeditated fashion … executing a plan to overwhelm our country with millions and millions of illegal migrants.”

GOP lawmaker grills DHS secretary: If Biden sent FEMA to the border, doesn’t that mean it's an emergency?



A Republican congresswoman on Wednesday pressed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the Biden administration's deployment of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the border, wanting him to admit that the situation is an "emergency."

Mayorkas was called to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee, answering questions about Department of Homeland Security operations and responding to lawmakers' concerns over the migrant crisis at the southern border.

At the hearing, Mayorkas declined to characterize the recent surge of migrant apprehensions and overwhelmed border protection facilities as a "crisis" or even an "emergency," despite the Biden administration deploying FEMA to the border to assist with caring for thousands of unaccompanied children now in the federal government's custody.

During questions, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) asked if Mayokas could "tell me what FEMA stands for?"

"Federal Emergency Management Administration," Mayorkas replied. (The "A" in FEMA actually stands for "Agency.")

"Excellent, so, since FEMA has now deployed to the border, that would stand to reason that there is an emergency on the border, correct?" Cammack followed up.

"We have a very serious challenge at the border, and we are tackling it," Mayorkas said, displeasure evident in his tone.

Later, Cammack shared the story of her high school classmate Amber Scott, who was kidnapped by an illegal immigrant who had been deported multiple times.

"I think when you have policies that incentivize folks to come over illegally and we don't have the proper mechanisms in place to protect our borders — as you say, FEMA has been deployed and they are an emergency agency — that kind of impact has resounding effects," she told Mayorkas before asking, "How many more Ambers have to be kidnapped across America before you will take action?"

Mayorkas was offended by the question.

"Congresswoman, I find that question to be extraordinarily disrespectful," he told her. "Disrespectful not only to me, but disrespectful to the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security and to all the frontline personnel throughout this country who dedicate themselves to the safety and security of the American people."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Cammack replied. "I'm sure the American people feel very disrespected about the border situation they're facing right now."

.@DHSgov Sec. Mayorkas called one of my questions "extraordinarily disrespectful" when I mentioned a classmate's ki… https://t.co/BkqijRuFxc
— Congresswoman Kat Cammack (@Congresswoman Kat Cammack)1616004768.0

Republican lawmakers grilled Mayorkas over the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis at the southern border. They accused President Joe Biden's policies of incentivizing illegal immigration, charging that the U.S. border is effectively an open border because of Biden's reversal of President Donald Trump's policies.

The "border is secure and the border is not open," Mayorkas told lawmakers, acknowledging that the situation is "undoubtedly difficult."

Addressing the migrant surge in his opening remarks, the secretary said, "Most are single adults who are expelled within hours back to Mexico, pursuant to the CDC's public health authority."

""Families who are apprehended at the border are also immediately expelled under the same public health authority unless we confront at times a limitation on Mexico's capacity to receive them," he added.

As for unaccompanied children, the Biden administration ended Trump's policy of sending them back to Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is currently in custody of 4,200 children, who have been placed in detention centers, facing reportedly horrific conditions as they wait to be transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement for processing and placement with family and sponsors already in the country.

"Their families made the heart-wrenching decision to send them on a journey across Mexico to provide them with a better, safer future," Mayorkas said.

Republicans said Biden's policies were incentivizing migrants to travel to the U.S., contributing to the dire situation in overwhelmed DHS and HHS facilities.

"Through irresponsible rhetoric and actions by this administration, worsening unprecedented crisis unfold during a pandemic, the situation at the border continues to get worse every day, with inadequate action or even proper acknowledgment of the severity of the situation," committee ranking member Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) said.

Another Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas), credited President Trump with successfully deterring illegal immigrants from entering the country.

But Mayorkas criticized the Trump approach, saying, "Sometimes, the tools of deterrence defy values and principles for which we all stand. And one of those tools of deterrence that the Trump administration employed was deplorable and absolutely unacceptable," adding that Trump's family separation policies were the real "humanitarian crisis."

"A crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family to deter future migration," he said. "That, to me, is a humanitarian crisis. And what the president has committed to, and what I am committed to and execute, is to ensure that we have an immigration system that works and that migration to our country is safe, orderly, and humane."

Committee Democrats blamed the Trump administration for causing the current migrant crisis.

Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said Mayorkas and Biden's DHS have been "left to deal with the mess the last administration left behind."

"Let me be clear, the Trump administration's cruel, shortsighted policies directly contributed to the situation at the border now," Thompson said.

DHS secretary says border surge is 'difficult.' Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin calls it a 'crisis'



The Biden administration on Tuesday admitted that the southwest border is on pace to encounter more illegal immigrants than it has in the past two decades, but still refuses to call the situation a "crisis." At least one Democratic senator disagrees.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) thinks the Biden administration is sending the wrong message as Customs and Border Protection reports encountering more than 100,000 migrants at the U.S. border in February.

"Whatever message was sent — it was sure interpreted the wrong way," Manchin told CNN in an interview Monday night. "It's a crisis, oh, it's a crisis."

From day one, President Joe Biden sought to strike a completely different tone on immigration policy from the previous administration. He reversed several of President Donald Trump's border policies, including ending Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for processing and limiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement's enforcement actions against most illegal immigrants. The president also vowed to sign legislation granting amnesty and U.S. citizenship to 11 million illegal immigrants.

In the view of migrants hoping to come to the United States, these actions established Biden as, in the words of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, "the migrant president." Their faith in this president was signified by those appearing at the border wearing Biden T-shirts saying, "Please let us in," clinging to the promises he made by word and deed, promises the Mexican government says "incentivize migration."

As a result, according to a statement from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. government is "on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years." While the administration claims single adults and families traveling together are being turned away at the U.S. border because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden has instructed border authorities to take custody of unaccompanied children and seek to reunite them with family or sponsors already in the U.S.

Reports say U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents have custody of 4,200 children in detention centers. The facilities housing these children are overwhelmed, filled beyond their COVID-19 safe capacity, and lacking essential resources like light, bedding, and enough food.

The kids held there are also being detained longer than the legally permissible 72-hour period before they should be turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement. DHS facilities are at max-capacity, requiring CBP to keep custody of the children longer. There are also plans to house 3,000 male migrant teenagers at a convention center in downtown Dallas for up to 90 days to relieve the stress on other overcrowded facilities.

Last week, the Biden administration was forced to deploy FEMA to assist with the care for these children.

Compounding the problems at the border is a rise of violent crime as drug cartels, human traffickers, and smugglers take advantage of the migrants. Local officials from the border report violent incursions into their communities, including dangerous high-speed chases with police. Criminals apprehended by authorities include illegal immigrants previously deported for sexual assault, murder, and drug trafficking.

Reuters reported last week that criminal organizations are adopting "unprecedented" levels of sophistication to conduct their smuggling operations, including "briefing clients on the latest immigration rules, using technology to outfox authorities, and disguising smuggling operations as travel agencies."

Republicans accuse Biden of inviting this crisis. "This is all a direct result of wide-open borders policy by the Biden administration, failure to finish the fence, but most importantly, they're basically turning DHS into a welcome mat and they're just encouraging more dangerous journeys for kids," Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Monday.

Mayorkas on Tuesday defended the president's policies, describing the current border surge as "difficult" but insisting it is "not new" and refraining from calling it a crisis.

"The situation at the southwest border is difficult," Mayorkas said. "We are working around the clock to manage it and we will continue to do so. That is our job. We are making progress and we are executing on our plan. It will take time and we will not waver in our commitment to succeed."

"We will also not waver in our values and our principles as a Nation," he said. "Our goal is a safe, legal, and orderly immigration system that is based on our bedrock priorities: to keep our borders secure, address the plight of children as the law requires, and enable families to be together."

He continued:

We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years. We are expelling most single adults and families. We are not expelling unaccompanied children. We are securing our border, executing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) public health authority to safeguard the American public and the migrants themselves, and protecting the children. We have more work to do.

This is not new. We have experienced migration surges before – in 2019, 2014, and before then as well. Since April 2020, the number of encounters at the southwest border has been steadily increasing. Border Patrol Agents are working around the clock to process the flow at the border and I have great respect for their tireless efforts. To understand the situation, it is important to identify who is arriving at our southwest border and how we are following the law to manage different types of border encounters.

Mayorkas said poverty, high levels of violence, and corruption in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries were factors pushing migrants to seek refuge in the U.S. He also noted, "two damaging hurricanes that hit Honduras and swept through the region made the living conditions there even worse, causing more children and families to flee."

He savaged the Trump administration in his statement, accusing Trump of dismantling the asylum system.

The prior administration completely dismantled the asylum system. The system was gutted, facilities were closed, and they cruelly expelled young children into the hands of traffickers. We have had to rebuild the entire system, including the policies and procedures required to administer the asylum laws that Congress passed long ago.

The prior administration tore down the lawful pathways that had been developed for children to come to the United States in a safe, efficient, and orderly way. It tore down, for example, the Central American Minors program that avoided the need for children to take the dangerous journey to our southwest border.

The previous administration also cut foreign aid funding to the Northern Triangle. No longer did we resource efforts in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to tackle the root causes of people fleeing their homes.

And, there were no plans to protect our front-line personnel against the COVID-19 pandemic. There was no appropriate planning for the pandemic at all.

Going forward, the secretary said the Biden administration would work to set up new facilities to house migrants, increase COVID-19 testing, coordinate refugee resettlement with Mexico and Central American countries, and help unaccompanied children apply for asylum in the U.S. on the internet so they don't have to make the dangerous journey north on their own.

"The situation we are currently facing at the southwest border is a difficult one," Mayorkas concluded. "We are tackling it. We are keeping our borders secure, enforcing our laws, and staying true to our values and principles. We can do so because of the incredible talent and unwavering dedication of our workforce."

Report: DHS chief seeks volunteers to manage 'overwhelming' migrant surge at border



The Department of Homeland Security is asking staff to volunteer to help manage the "overwhelming" number of migrants causing a crisis at the U.S. border, according to a new report.

Fox News reported Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sent an email to DHS staff requesting volunteers to help with "managing property, preparing meals, doing supply runs, prescription medicine runs, housekeeping, and assisting in control rooms.

"Today, I activated the Volunteer Force to support Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as they face a surge in migration along the Southwest Border," Mayorkas reportedly said.

"You have likely seen the news about the overwhelming numbers of migrants seeking access to this country along the Southwest Border," he continued. "President Biden and I are committed to ensuring our Nation has a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system while continuing to balance all of the other critical DHS missions."

This volunteer force, which was previously activated in 2019 during the border crisis in the spring and summer, will act in a non-law enforcement capacity to provide humanitarian relief.

"In 2019, over 900 volunteers deployed to support their CBP colleagues during a similar migration surge," Mayorkas said. "Please consider joining the Volunteer Force to again provide needed humanitarian support along the Southwest Border and relief for our CBP colleagues."

Thousands of migrant children are overwhelming detention facilities at the U.S. border even as the Biden administration refuses to acknowledge there is a crisis on its hands.

According to the New York Times, the number of migrant children detained at the border has tripled in the past two weeks, swelling to more than 3,250. Federal law requires that children detained by Customs and Border Protection be turned over to shelters managed by the Department of Health and Human Services, but COVID-19 safety protocols have limited the space available to house these children. Last week, the CDC had to issue guidelines permitting the administration to operate shelters at 100% capacity to fit all these kids, acknowledging these facilities "should plan for and expect to have COVID-19 cases."

But it's not just children. Border agents encountered a migrant at the border about 78,000 times in January, double the number of encounters from the same time one year ago and the highest rate of any January in a decade.

"Immigration authorities are expected to announce this week that there were close to 100,000 apprehensions, including encounters at port entries, in February," the Times reports. "An additional 19,000 migrants, including adults and children, have been caught by border agents since March 1."

The current border surge is drawing comparisons to the 2019 crisis when there were as many as 140,000 border apprehensions in a month at its height.

There are several "push" and "pull" factors that are driving migrants to attempt to come to the U.S.

Natural disasters in Central America, poverty, hunger, and gang violence are among the push factors motivating people in South and Central America to flee their homeland for the United States. Hurricanes have left thousands of people homeless in Honduras. There is famine in Latin America caused by the storms destroying crop yields and exacerbated by the pandemic. And gang violence and widespread government corruption are convincing many, many people to leave in search of a better life in America.

Then there are the pull factors. The Biden administration has reversed several of President Donald Trump's policies: Ending Migrant Protection Protocols, the "Remain in Mexico" policy which had migrants wait for their hearings outside the U.S.; halting construction of the border wall; and reinstating "catch and release;" and imposing a moratorium on deportations for most classes of illegal immigrants. Also, Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the new administration has developed a policy that will permit noncitizens to contest their deportation.

The softer tone Biden has set on immigration — and his promise to support legislation granting amnesty and citizenship to 11 million illegal immigrants — are encouraging people to travel to the U.S. in the hopes of finding a warm welcome from the United States government.

Biden's "humanitarian" immigration policy has consequences. In addition to migrant housing facilities now being overwhelmed, violence and criminal activity is rising on the border as drug cartels, smugglers, human traffickers, and gangs are taking advantage of the situation.