Title 42, is a Trump-era public health order that gives the government power to automatically expel illegal immigrants, and is set to expire on 11 May, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
It will be possibly replaced by an order called Title 8, which offers more severe punishments for crossing into the United States, illegally.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a border Congressman, tells The Epoch Times the order has been ineffective in keeping illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States.
“Title 42, you just expel people and there are no repercussions they can come right back. Under Title 8 there are some teeth which means if someone is deported there will be a 5-year, 10-year, 15-year, 20-year ban or more, which means they cannot come back into the country.”
President Joe Bident has said in January his administration will return to the Title 8 order once Title 42 is rolled back: “It’s—my prediction is—it’s not—there’s nothing particularly insightful about this: Title 42 is going to go away before the end of the year, in terms of the Supreme Court, in my prediction. And then we’re going to have to use Title 9—Title 8.”
However, there has been much disinformation on social media, leading to the possibility of an illegal immigration surge.
The Biden administration has been reluctant to take hardline measures that would resemble those of his predecessor. That’s resulted in a barrage of criticism from Republicans who are using Title 42 to hammer the president as ineffective on border security. The rules were introduced as an emergency health measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to the Associated Press.
The Caravan
The removal of Title 42 comes as thousands of illegal immigrants have been moving in a caravan throughout Mexico to reach the U.S. border and 1,500 hundred troops have been sent to secure the border by the Biden administration.
“These characters will likely try to enter the United States by force, so the protocol of the border, which is to safeguard and protect the passage will be put to the test,” Juan Rojas, a member of the Mexican National Guard, told The Epoch Times.
The Associated Press estimates that at least 3,000 migrants will march to the U.S. border but the actual figure could be larger than that.
Mexico has recently granted the migrants free passage through the country by giving them visas to expedite their way to the U.S-Mexico border.
“The institute entered into dialogue with the members of the caravan who are in Villa Comaltitlán, Chiapas, with whom it was agreed to set up a processing table to grant them, if they so request, the Multiple Migration Form (FMM) for humanitarian reasons,” said the Instituto Nacional de Migración of Mexico.
This provides the migrants with the same protections that a U.S. citizen would have while traveling through Mexico.
It’s expected that migrants from at least 50 countries, including China, will be marching to the U.S. border once Title 42 is rolled back.
Sources told The Epoch Times that they will most likely be controlled or directed by criminal cartels in Mexico and possibly ushered to Juarez, Mexico, which is directly across from El Paso, Texas. That is the area where a detention facility caught fire in March, killing at least 40 illegal immigrants this year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
