Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confidently insisted on Thursday that the Biden administration is ready to respond to a massive influx of migrants expected to cross the border as Title 42 expires, but he also acknowledged the situation will be chaotic for a while.
Mr. Mayorkas addressed reporters during the daily White House briefing as the clock ticked down to the lifting of the Title 42 public health order at midnight Thursday. The government will then use its authority under Title 8 to penalize migrants who cross the border illegally, including a five-year reentry ban and possible criminal prosecution, he told reporters.
Title 42 was a Trump-era policy used to ramp up deportations because of health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As criticism mounts from Republican lawmakers, and some Democrats and media pundits, that the Biden administration responded too slowly to the looming crisis, Mr. Mayorkas tried to assure reporters that a solid federal response is in place.
“We prepared for this moment for almost two years and our plan will deliver results,” Mr. Mayorkas said.
But Mr. Mayorkas later conceded that capacity across the southern border is stretched thin, with several sectors already over capacity. He said officials were “clear-eyed” about the challenges posed by the large numbers of migrants who will attempt to cross the U.S. border in hopes of gaining asylum.
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The Homeland Security and State departments announced this week that they will open more than 100 welcome centers in Latin America to assist migrants to schedule border crossing. None of the centers are open yet.
The vast majority of the more than 1,500 active-duty military personnel dispatched to the border to help border agents have not arrived and officials have been slow to train asylum officers on a new regulation to make it more difficult for migrants to claim asylum.
“We expected to see large numbers of encounters initially. We are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors,” Mr. Mayorkas said. “This places an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities and our communities with whom we partner closely. We prepared for this moment for almost two years and our plan will deliver results. It will take time for those results to be fully realized, and it is essential that we all take this into account.”
He also gave a stern new warning to migrants, stressing that despite the end of Title 42, America’s borders “are not open.”
“I want to be very clear: Our borders are not open. People who cross our border unlawfully and without a legal basis to remain will be promptly processed and removed,” he said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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