Biden admits that the immigrant surge “will be messy” when Title 42 ends

News

by Victor Nava

May 9, 2023 | 10:00 pm

President Biden acknowledged on Tuesday that the looming wave of immigrants at the southern border will be “chaotic for a while” after the Title 42 border policy expires later this week.

Biden, 80, admitted he wasn’t sure the US was prepared for the expected flood of immigrants during a news conference after he met with congressional leaders about the debt ceiling.

“I spent almost an hour with the Mexican president today. We’re doing everything we can. The answer is we’ll see,” Biden said when asked if the United States was ready for an influx of immigrants from Mexico.

“We’ve got overwhelming cooperation from Mexico. We’re also in the process of setting up offices in Colombia and other places where you – or whoever is seeking asylum can go first. So, it remains to be seen.” It’s going to be chaotic for a while, the president acknowledged.

Pandemic-era Title 42, which allowed law enforcement to quickly deport caught migrants across borders, ended Thursday along with the Covid-19 pandemic public health emergency.

The White House revealed in late January that the public health emergency would end this week and argued that it needed time to put in place “the necessary policies” to deal with the influx of immigrants that would come with ending Title 42.

“The administration supports an orderly and predictable de-escalation of Title 42, with sufficient time to put alternative policies in place. But if HR 382 becomes law and the Title 42 restrictions expire quickly, Congress will effectively require the administration to allow thousands of immigrants per day into the country at any rate.” Immediately without the necessary policies,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement in January, opposing a Republican bill to immediately end the public health emergency.

Already, some 80,000 South American migrants are massed in Guatemala and plan to head to the US-Mexico border, sources tell The Post, threatening to overwhelm US Customs and Border Protection agents by turning themselves in by the thousands daily before May 11th.

At El Paso — the busiest border crossing in the United States — migrants have set up tents just feet from where they plan to turn themselves in to US officials after May 11th.

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott accused the Biden administration on Monday of “laying out a welcome mat for people around the world, saying the borders of the United States are wide open.”

The White House announced last week that it would send 1,500 troops to the border for 90 days — though only to carry out administrative duties — as Title 42 draws to a close.