Oscar Leeser, the mayor of El Paso, Texas, said on Thursday that the city, which abuts the U.S.-Mexican border, is bracing for an “unknown” illegal immigrant surge after Title 42 expires.
“We are getting prepared now for the unknown. The unknown is how many people will come here,” told reporters, the New York Times reported.
“Federal immigration laws are broken, and they didn’t break during this administration or the last administration,” he said. “We have to figure out where we are heading. There is no light at end of the tunnel.”
Title 42, the pandemic-era rule allowing the Trump administration to expel illegal immigrants to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, will end on Thursday, May 11, after a litigation battle that eventually landed at the Supreme Court. In December 2022, Chief Justice Roberts paused the expiration of Title 42, temporarily granting the emergency appeal of 20 states to extend the program.
“No one reasonably disputes that the failure to grant a stay will cause a crisis of unprecedented proportions at the border. DHS estimates that daily illegal crossings may more than double from around 7,000/day to 15,000/day once Title 42 is terminated,” their petition read.
El Paso has been overwhelmed by the flood of illegal immigrants moving into the interior. The town has multiple centers dedicated to helping migrants arrange travel and providing housing, but most are at full capacity.
“We have been holding this wave off, and this wave is going to come crashing,” Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, a large shelter that is maxed out for space, told the Times. “How long will it last? Clearly until many people come across from the buildup in Mexico. But many more are likely on their way.”
Last week, Independent senator Kyrsten Sinema and Republican senator Thom Tillis said they planned to propose a replacement to the Title 42 program in the form of a temporary two-year authority to expel illegal aliens from the U.S. The lawmakers’ rule will not rely on public health reasoning, however, and will include protections for those who have serious and legitimate asylum claims as well as individuals with acute medical needs.
GOP senator Lindsey Graham told reporters Wednesday that Title 42’s elimination is “like being hit by a slow-moving truck in Kansas.” The day before, it was announced that President Biden would dispatch 1,500 soldiers to assist CBP efforts following a Department of Homeland Security request.