The number of immigrants at the US border will double after Title 42 ends

(CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security projects that 9,000 to 14,000 migrants may try to cross the U.S. southern border daily once the Title 42 border policy expires in late December. It was implemented under the Trump administration. According to a source familiar with the ratings. This number is more than twice the current number of people crossing, the source said.

As such, officials are preparing for an influx of immigrants trying to enter the U.S. when the controversial Public Health Commission expires. Three weeks.

Since March 2020, border officials have been able to deport immigrants at the border under Title 42. However, that won’t happen until the end of December, as officials will have to return to traditional protocols. Following a court order striking down the policy earlier this month.

Under those protocols, immigrants are deported, detained or released in the United States while their cases progress in immigration courts.

Earlier this year, officials said they expected the suspension of Title 42 to cause an increase in the number of immigrants trying to enter the United States. The latest projections are in line with results prepared by officials at the time, including a worst-case scenario of 18,000 migrants trying to cross the border a day.

Daily encounters at the US-Mexico border currently number between 6,000 and 7,000, with mass migrations in the Western Hemisphere fueled by worsening conditions in the region.

In 2019, during the height of that year’s border crisis and leading up to Title 42, 6,000 encounters per day were recorded, according to a former Homeland Security official.

Sources cautioned that projections were variable due to challenges in anticipating migration patterns and people trying to cross more than once. The Department of Homeland Security also uses projections to prepare evidence for multiple scenarios.

“As was the case before Title 42, and will continue after it, people found at the border who have no legal basis to stay in the United States will be subject to immediate removal,” a government official told CNN.

Title 42 was used at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The provision has drawn sharp criticism from immigrant advocates and public health experts, who argue that the authority is used as a hypocrisy to prevent large numbers of immigrants from entering the country.

Border officials used public health controls to deport migrants more than 2.5 million times in three years. But earlier this month, a federal judge struck down Title 42. Judge Emmett Sullivan reserved his judgment until midnight on December 21.

Department of Homeland Security officials are drafting border plans to be released this spring to prepare for the end of Title 42.

The department is speeding up asylum processing times, doubling anti-trafficking efforts and coordinating with partners in the Western Hemisphere, an administration official said.

“The Department of Homeland Security will continue to replicate these proven strategies as we prepare to transition to the next phase of our mission to manage the border in a safe, orderly and humane manner,” the administration official said.