According to several U.S. media members, the Biden Administration has already sent or is planning to send 1,500 armed troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in expectation of mass border crossings once Title 42 expires on May 11th, 2023.
EXCLUSIVE: Biden administration is weighing sending 1500 active duty US troops to the southern border ahead of the lifting of Title 42 on May 11 amidst concerns that the tens of thousands of migrants on the other side of the border in Mexico may try to cross. MORE
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) May 2, 2023
This move is clearly out of desperation as migrant convoys in the tens of thousands have accumulated at major crossing points in Mexico. A border rush of more than 1,000 Venezuelans already shuttered a major El Paso crossing point last month. Now administration officials are worried this scene could repeat en masse. These troops have reportedly been sent to the border with their firearms for self-defense. It is important to delineate these troops are federal and not state; Texas already has hundreds of National Guardsmen deployed to its border with Mexico. It is not currently clear where these federal troops would be deployed to.
Title 42 allows the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to prohibit the entry of persons who potentially pose a health risk by being subject to previously-announced travel restrictions or because by unlawfully entering the country to bypass health-screening measures. Persons subject to the order are not held in congregate areas for processing and are instead immediately expelled to their country of last transit. If they are unable to be returned to the country of last transit (because that country will not accept them due to their nationality), the Border Patrol will work with its interagency partners to expel the person to their country of origin Expulsions under Title 42 are not based on immigration status and are tracked separately from immigration. (wiki)
In some cases, this is not possible, and migrants may be expelled to a third country that will accept them based on previous residency. At the discretion of the administration, Title 42 can be used even for people who would normally have temporary protected status based on their country of origin. (Wiki)
