The surge of illegal immigrants has already begun at the U.S.-Mexico border, where agents in southern Texas apprehended 2,300 migrants on Friday morning.
Analysts had warned of a new surge next week when the Title 42 border expulsion power ends along with other pandemic emergency powers. But Homeland Security officials on Friday said they’re already seeing increased flows of people into southern Texas, and have been for a couple of weeks.
“I think that there is no question that this is going to be extremely challenging,” Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the border, where he is on a two-day trip to review preparations.
Most of the new surge are Venezuelans, and Mr. Mayorkas said he couldn’t pinpoint why they came right now.
Venezuelans had been a success story in recent months after Mr. Mayorkas and President Biden announced a “parole” program to try to entice illegal immigrants to apply for a free pass before showing up at the border. Those that didn’t apply ahead of time are supposed to be quickly ousted back to Mexico.
A reporter on Friday challenged Mr. Mayorkas, saying they had encountered Venezuelans who’d swum the Rio Grande and entered illegally and who were already released onto the streets in southern Texas. The reporter said they were single adults, which means they shouldn’t have qualified for any family loophole or other exception.
Mr. Mayorkas insisted his process was working nonetheless.
And he said smugglers are spreading false narratives about the border, trying to entice people to pay to come.
“The border is not open, it has not been open, and it will not be open subsequent to May 11,” he said.
Mr. Mayorkas said his goal with the upcoming surge is to try to channel illegal immigrants into a more orderly entry. Those that schedule appointments and qualify for the parole program will be admitted, even though they will not have a lawful presence status.
Those who don’t schedule appointments and come anyway can be ousted under regular immigration law.
The problem for Mr. Mayorkas is the sheer numbers and changing demographics.
More people are coming from nations well beyond the usual sending countries of Mexico and Central America. And the U.S. lacks enough capacity to quickly deport people to those less common countries, even if it had the willpower to do so, and the cooperation of those countries.
In many cases, such as Venezuela and Cuba, the governments won’t cooperate.
Those that come as families are also tougher to deal with.
In general, families and those from far afield are caught and released, in the hope they’ll come back for eventual court cases and deportation.
Homeland Security said Friday it has doled out roughly $330 million in new money to communities and nongovernmental organizations to welcome the catch-and-release migrants.
Mr. Mayorkas also said he’s been working to get Mexico to do more to try to stop the flow of people headed north.
He also continued to avoid calling the border situation a “crisis.” He labeled it “very serious,” “very challenging” and “very difficult.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.