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WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Tuesday released a plan to deal with the expected increase in the already large number of migrants on the US-Mexico border from a planned public health order that prevents people from seeking asylum – and that Republican and some Democrats insist must be maintained in place.
A note from Home Secretary Alejandro N. Mallorca outlines more sustained efforts to enforce U.S. immigration law without the use of Title 42, which was implemented at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
“When the Public Health Order of Title 42 is repealed, we expect migration levels to increase as smugglers seek to take advantage of and benefit vulnerable migrants,” Mallorca warned in a note the day before he testified before Congress a question that has become a powerful element in Republican political communications.
The plan includes increasing the number of staff in the border region from customs and border services and other federal agencies, expanding detention capacity using temporary facilities and aggressively deploying a process known as expedited removal to deport eligible migrants. for asylum or some other relief under U.S. law.
It also relies on new initiatives from the Ministry of Homeland Security to streamline the assessment of migrants’ applications, such as the deployment of asylum officers at the border to determine whether someone should be granted temporary legal residence while the immigration court ruled on their case.
There is no mention of the fact that the court may soon order the government to reverse the course and suspend plans to repeal Title 42 on May 23 due to lawsuits filed by Republican-led states.
On Monday, a federal judge in Louisiana said he would issue an order limiting the administration’s ability to prepare, but left the specifics of the federal and state agreement.
Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Robert Somerhace has scheduled a May 13 hearing in the Louisiana and 20 other states seeking to retain the powers of Title 42. Republicans and some congressional Democrats have also called on the Biden administration to continue the order for now. .
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R.K. That demand put Democrats on the defensive ahead of the fall election, in which congressional control is at stake and some moderates face competitive competition.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., acknowledged that Republican efforts are forcing Democrats to try to find a position behind which they can unite. “There are divisions there now,” he said. And Sen. Tim Kane, D-Va., Has taken the unusual step of criticizing the administration for sending conflicting signals on the issue.
“We are puzzled by the administration, some mixed messages around. Is the state of emergency over or not? Kane told reporters. “We are confused about this. And that makes different people be in different places until we get answers to questions. “
Migrants have been expelled more than 1.8 million times under a rule issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Donald Trump.
Defenders of asylum seekers support the end of the rule, which they say threatens people fleeing persecution at home and violates the right to seek protection under US law and an international treaty. States that challenge the administration say the United States is not ready for a likely influx of migrants as a result of the end of the rule that burdens public services.
This comes against the background of what the administration acknowledges is the historic number of migrants trying to cross the border due to factors including economic and political turmoil in Latin America, as well as lagging behind people seeking asylum.
The increase in meetings with migrants is partly due to the share itself 42.
Immigration authorities stopped migrants 221,303 times along the southwestern border in March, up 33 percent from a month earlier, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
But many of these encounters are people who return after being removed under the direction of public health. CBP said the number of unique individuals found across the country in March reached 159,900, still high but well below the total.
Biden officials say the use of expedited removal is more of a deterrent, as people subjected to it are inadmissible for five years and could be charged with a crime if they try to return to the country. According to Title 42, there are no legal consequences and many people simply turn around and come back.
Associated Press author Alan Fram contributed to this report.
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