Federal agents with US Customs and Border Protection launched a pre-dawn operation in the Texas border town Tuesday at a Catholic Church where some 2,500 migrants, both legal and illegal, have gathered.
With just three days until Title 42 expires, many of the migrants expected federal agents to arrest the illegal immigrants sleeping on the streets, agents instead passed out flyers written in Spanish advising migrants who had crossed the border illegally to hand themselves over to a specific processing center.
El Paso Catholic Diocese Bishop Mark Se said he had been told by CBP: “Today they assure us that this is going to be a day in which they have an opportunity. They [CBP] want to come in a soft hand. Those who have no [criminal] record against them, will have the opportunity to go to the processing center and to be processed to receive parole to enter the country and go to their destination.”
The move appears to directly contradict the message the Biden administration has sent to migrants that they must apply for asylum from another country and get a sponsor and papers before trying to enter the US and the border patrol’s policy of ejecting migrants who have entered the country illegally.
“[Border Patrol’s] decision of how they’re going to proceed. I think before the 11th, they’re probably concerned that they don’t want to have a large number of people here, dealing with so many people at the border. I would just speculate that that is their reason,” bishop Se added.
“Their message to us is that today is the day. Tomorrow, they will be a little bit tougher. The day following that, Thursday, there will be arrests.”
“One can understand why [the migrants] are afraid, that’s why I’m here — to observe, first of all that [CBP] is doing what they said they’re going to do. If any of the migrants need reassurance, I’ll share with them what I’ve been told. That’s the best I can do. I personally believe that this is their best opportunity.”
CBP had previously announced it would start “targeted enforcement” of immigration rules in El Paso Tuesday.
The Sacred Heart Church where migrants are gathered is considered a sanctuary where border patrol will not make raids or arrests, much like schools.
Title 42 is a federal health measure currently enforced by the US Border Patrol. It currently allows the agency to kick certain migrants out of the US and return them to Mexico. This includes asylum seekers, who under international law, have the legal right to make an asylum claim in America.
Currently, migrants who cross the border illegally who are from Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are amenable to Title 42 and could be sent to Mexico.
President Donald Trump invoked the law in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the Centers for Disease Control to issue the policy. The Trump Administration made the case that keeping migrants out of the country would slow down the spread of infections and keep federal agents encountering migrants safely.
When President Biden took over, he continued to enforce Title 42 with one important change from his predecessor. Biden said Border Patrol agents were only allowed to expel migrants from certain countries under his direction. That meant migrants seeking asylum from countries like Cuba and Venezuela could still seek asylum if they arrived at the border and stay in the US while their cases were decided in court — unless they had a criminal record.
Title 42 is supposed to be a health policy — not an immigration law. It will end on May 11 at 11:59 p.m., when the Biden Administration ends all COVID-19-related policies.
Many have called for the policy’s end, saying it’s illegal and that international law guarantees people the right to seek asylum.
Others, like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, warn that the southern border could see up to 13,000 migrants per day crossing with the intention to stay in the country when the measure ends.
It’s unclear exactly how many people have been expelled under Title 42 because there have been scores of people who have attempted to enter the country numerous times and been rejected again and again, but the US Border Patrol said it made an all-time high of more than 2.3 million arrests at the border in the last fiscal year. Forty percent of people who were expelled from the country were ejected under the rules of Title 42.
However, migrants who spoke with The Post outside remained skeptical of the offered amnesty.
Venezuelan Daniel Mena told The Post: “It’s like going to the lion’s den, we can’t do that.
Jason Romero, also from Venezuela and in the US illegally after crossing into El Paso five days ago through a hole in the border wall said: “I turned myself in once before and they sent me to Tijuana.
“You run a risk, 50/50, that they let you stay. No one’s going to turn themselves in. You can’t fall for their [border patrol’s] games.
“You can’t risk [turning yourself in]. You don’t know what I’ve been through. I’ve been traveling for eight months. I spent 24 days in Juarez.
Referring to the app migrants have to apply for an application through, he added: “I tried to come in legally through the CBP One App, but that page doesn’t work. It’s also cruel to make us wait so long.”
Others were less skeptical and lined up Tuesday morning at the processing center.
Maria Barrera, who is traveling with her husband, said: “We want to be here legally. We crossed into the US through a hole in the wall. We were looking for Border Patrol, but we didn’t see any that day. We just walked right in.
“We met other migrants who called an Uber and offered to bring us to the church. This morning, they gave us a flyer telling us about the opportunity to turn ourselves in, so we’re going to try.
“Our plan was always to come through legally. We tried going through the CBP One app, but it never worked. We don’t know what’s going to happen when Title 42 ends, so we don’t want to risk it.”
Barrera said she has a sponsor in North Carolina and another relative in Florida who could act as a sponsor and once she has her papers “our relatives can buy our plane tickets and we can go.”
Title 42 is a pandemic-era measure that allows border patrol to swiftly eject migrants from certain countries without hearing their asylum claims, citing public health reasons.
Border Patrol in El Paso did not return requests for comment on the plan to offer amnesty to illegal border crossers on Tuesday.