Migrant shelters across Texas are bursting at the seams and one city will declare a state of emergency as the state prepares to be flooded with people crossing from Mexico when Title 42 ends next month.
Asylum-seekers, mostly from Central and South America, are poised for the end of Title 42 — the federal pandemic-era policy which has allowed US officials to kick millions of migrants back to Mexico — to expire on May 11.
“We’re going to see something, based on all the information we’ve received, that we haven’t seen in El Paso,” Mayor Oscar Leeser said Monday.
The state of emergency will go into effect in the coming days as up to 40,000 migrants have gathered just across the border in Juarez, Mexico, sources have told the Post.
This is the second time an emergency has been declared in six months and El Paso’s own figures show they are encountering over 1,000 people a day at the border.
Leeser added the city’s convention center and two vacant schools will be used as temporary housing for the expected flood of migrants.
El Paso has been the top spot for migrants to cross into the US along the entire border for over a year.
It is followed closely by nearby Del Rio, according to the US Border Patrol, which says more than 3 million migrants have crossed into Texas since 2021.
El Paso will declare a state of emergency as the state prepares to be flooded with people crossing from Mexico. USBP
The state of emergency will go into effect in the coming days as up to 40,000 migrants have gathered just across the border in Juarez, Mexico. James KeivomBy comparison, New York City declared a state of emergency in October after 40,000 migrants, mostly from Texas, were bused into the Big Apple, putting significant strain on its homeless shelters and services.
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, migrants are crowding into a shelter where food is running low as more and more people, often women and children, are increasingly turning to the shelter for help.
What is Title 42 and what does its end mean for US border immigration?
What is Title 42?
Title 42 is a federal health measure enforced by the US Border Patrol. It 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 and who are from Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua or Venezuela are subject to Title 42 and could be sent to Mexico.
How did Title 42 start?
President Donald Trump invoked the law in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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 maintain the safety of federal agents encountering migrants.
What has happened with Title 42 under Biden?
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.
What is happening with Title 42 now?
Title 42 is supposed to be a health policy, not an immigration law. It will end at 11:59 p.m. May 11, when the Biden administration ends all COVID-19-related policies.
Why is it controversial?
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.
What would the end of Title 42 mean for immigration into the US?
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.
“I think it’s going to be a disaster,” Catholic Charities Executive Director Antonio Fernandez told a local station of the expected migrant wave.
Morehead Middle School could possibly be used as a migrant shelter after Title 42. James Keivom
Bassett Middle School will be considered as another migrant shelter. James Keivom
After Title 42 expires migrants will use El Paso Convention Center as a shelter. James KeivomAs El Paso prepares for a new migrant surge — after previous waves have led to streets being flooded with people sleeping rough, overcrowded shelters and emergency services diverted from the city — it is asking for $25 million from the federal government.
On the other side of the border, tensions are already rising among those camped out in tent encampments just feet from the international boundary.
The Post witnessed as fists flew on Monday when one migrants set upon another during a church clothing giveaway in Juarez, Mexico.
The mostly South Americans living in the tents have taken to showering in old portable toilets and panhandling while they count down the days until they can cross into the Lone Star State.
They are soon to be joined, as US intelligence has been tracking large groups of migrants making their way north through Mexico, one official shared.
“We do know that there’s movement, through Mexico up to the border, and those numbers are going to be increasing as that date nears,” Jorge Rodriguez of El Paso’s office of emergency management revealed.
Despite the Biden administration claiming it was getting tough on asylum and saying migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua had to get a US sponsor and apply from a different country to enter, The Post found shelters were still full of people from those countries who had crossed over land borders, often illegally.
The mostly South Americans living in the tents have taken to showering in old portable toilets and panhandling. James KeivomIt has also emerged citizens of those same countries, apart from Cuba, can be admitted to the US at any time and given Temporary Protected Status, a designation that allows people to stay in America because it is unsafe in their home country because of war, natural disaster or other reasons.
Thirteen other countries also have this designation including Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria and over 400,000 people in the US currently have this status.
Last week Venezuelans Maria and Ali Angel Jose told The Post they had waited in Ciudad Juarez for three months trying to get an appointment through Biden’s CBP One app and apply the official way, but after being unable to secure anything, they turned themselves in at the border.
“It’s a thing of luck. You see single men get through or single women, then a family with kids will get expelled,” they said.







