The Biden administration is preparing to send 1,500 troops to the border in anticipation of the thousands of illegal immigrants expected to cross once Title 42 ends on May 11. So far, these restrictions put into place during Donald Trump’s administration and the COVID pandemic have prevented illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States more than 2.5 million times. Yet, with the current migrant crisis already out of hand, and now even more coming over, will the troops even make a dent?
Last month, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Commissioner Troy Miller told Congress that he expects to see about 10,000 immigrants per day try to breach the border when Title 42 ends. This is more than double the current flood. In recent days, there already have been about 7,000 daily encounters, CNN reported.
Currently, there are 2,500 troops along the border, sent there after Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asked Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to send assistance starting Oct. 1, 2022, and staying through September 2023. Biden’s deployment will add another 1,500 men and women to the area.
The operation will last only 90 days and, as Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said, the troops will not be involved in law enforcement and will serve in a more administrative role. In a statement, the department said, “DOD personnel will be performing nonlaw enforcement duties such as ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry and warehouse support. DOD personnel have never, and will not, perform law enforcement activities or interact with migrants or other individuals in DHS custody. This support will free up DHS law enforcement personnel to perform their critical law enforcement missions.”
Last week, Mayorkas said, “We do expect that encounters at our southern border will increase as smugglers are seeking to take advantage of this change and already are hard at work spreading disinformation that the border will be open after that.” He added, “Let me be clear: Our border is not open and will not be open after May 11.”
Ryder said the troops will arrive by the day before, May 10, and the Army and Marine Corps will supply the forces.
During a White House briefing on May 2, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blamed the migrant crisis on Congress and its inability for its members to work together while she praised President Biden:
“As you know, on the first day of walking into the White House of his administration, the president put forth a comprehensive immigration legislation and so that we could have resources and so that we could be able to help the men and women of Border Patrol to do their jobs. And so, if Congress would act and again, do their jobs and meet us halfway and do this in a bipartisan way, we would not have to do this.”
Did Title 42 Do Any Good?
(Photo by Katie McTiernan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“CBP statistics show that only about 46% of migrant encounters at the border resulted in a Title 42 expulsion,” Fox News reported. Mayorkas “testified to Senate lawmakers last month that of the nearly 1.3 million migrants in FY 2022 who were processed via Title 8, only about 360,000 were deported.”
Claudio Herrera-Baeza, a spokesperson for El Paso Sector Border Patrol, explained Title 8 to KFox14: “Under Title 8 authorities, any noncitizens who cross the border illegally between the ports of entry and are determined not to have a legal basis to remain will be processed for removal.”
However, deportations under the Biden administration have “plummeted,” according to Fox News. “The agency deported 150,000 in FY 2019, but now is aiming to deport less than 30,000 a year.” Democrats and Republicans are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to how to stem the flow of illegals. Republicans want stricter immigration while the left thinks adding more resources and pouring money into the system for programs are better options.
Over the weekend, Mayorkas said on an NBC News Meet the Press interview that Congress needs to fix the “broken immigration system”:
“So I just want to be clear that we are working within significant constraints. We need people, we need technology, we need facilities, we need transportation resources, all of the elements of addressing the needs of a large population of people arriving irregularly at our southern border.”
In 2019, there were more than 5,000 troops at the border, but this action didn’t begin with the implementation of Title 42 under Trump. National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby said support for the border dates back to the George W. Bush administration. Ryder remarked, “This deployment to the border is consistent with other forms of military support to DHS over many years.” And DHS explained, “While this request is for 90 days, DoD has supported DHS on the border every year since 2006.”
However, not all on the left approve of Biden’s move to reinforce the border. Especially since the White House has developed a new rule that will prevent migrants from gaining eligibility to claim asylum if they came to the United States illegally, have not scheduled an appointment using the CBP One app, and have not claimed asylum in a country through which they have already passed, Fox News clarified. Mayorkas said “presumption of ineligibility” can be rebutted and there will be exemptions, but some Dems and immigration activists see this move as too close to the policies Trump put into place during his reign.
Will the extra troops at the border really help curb the flow of illegals into the country after Title 42 expires? Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee that works on immigration and border security policies, is skeptical. He warned on NBC News “They may help around the margins, but this is gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.”
