Title 42 has expired

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is seen during a White House press briefing on Thursday, May 11.

The Biden administration is warning migrants not to “believe the lies of smugglers” as Title 42 expires, reiterating “the border is not open.”

In a statement from Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas released just before midnight — and as the pandemic-era immigration policy ends — the administration said the US is “ready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the U.S.”

Title 42 officially expired at 11:59 p.m. ET, meaning the Trump-era pandemic public health restrictions are no longer in place.

Title 42 allowed border authorities to swiftly turn away migrants encountered at the US-Mexico border, often depriving migrants of the chance to claim asylum and dramatically cutting down on border processing time. But Title 42 also carried almost no legal consequences for migrants crossing, meaning if they were pushed back, they could try to cross again multiple times.

Once Title 42 lifts, the US government will return to a decades-old section of the US code known as Title 8, which allows for migrants to seek asylum, which can be a lengthy and drawn out process that begins with a credible fear screening by asylum officers before migrants’ cases progress through the immigration court system.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned Title 8 would carry “more severe” consequences for migrants found to be entering the country without a legal basis.

A federal judge in Florida has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from releasing migrants from Border Patrol custody without court notices, according to a late Thursday court filing.

The ruling takes effect Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET to coincide with the end of Title 42 – and will expire in 14 days.

The Biden administration is expected to appeal.

For now, the ruling takes away one of the administration’s key tools in attempting to manage the number of migrants in US Customs and Border Protection custody — in some cases, by releasing them from custody with conditions. US border facilities are not equipped to hold people for extended periods of time.

The Biden administration had been preparing to release migrants who are apprehended at the US-Mexico border without court dates amid high border arrests and immense strain on border facilities, according to the Department of Homeland Security. As of Wednesday, there were more than 28,000 migrants in Border Patrol custody, stretching capacity.

The administration has previously released migrants without court dates when facing a surge of migrants after they’re screened and vetted by authorities. The latest move would have released migrants on “parole” on a case-by-case basis and require them to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some individuals may also be placed in alternative to detention programs. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday it would apply to a “fraction” of the people encountered.

Florida, which has previously taken issue with the release of migrants from custody, filed an emergency motion Thursday asking the court to temporarily block the administration’s plan.

A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for May 19, according to the order.

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford speaks on border security and Title 42 during a press conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Thurdsay.

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford joined other Republicans at a news conference outside the Capitol on Thursday, calling the end of Title 42 a “predictable crisis.” Lankford said he and Republican colleagues are working quickly on legislation to address the crisis.

“This administration has not done what it needed to do,” Lankford said. “The administration, by the way, does have the tools to enforce the asylum policies. They have those tools right now. They’ve always had those tools. They’ve just chosen not to be able to use them.”

Several other Republican senators visited the border area near Brownsville, Texas.

North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd called the end of Title 42 “truly a humanitarian crisis.” At a Thursday evening news conference with fellow senators, he called on Biden to pass his introduced Build the Wall Now Act, which would require the construction of the border wall to resume.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said “an absolute travesty” was unfolding on the border.

Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall commended Border Patrol, the National Guard, volunteers and NGOs, who are addressing conditions at the border. He urged President Joe Biden to “come and look one of these camps in the eyes and see for himself the tragedy that’s ongoing here.”

North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven echoed the concerns of his party regarding the end of Title 42. He called on Biden to “enforce the law,” and the Remain in Mexico policy.

Migrants seeking asylum in the United States wait in line to be processed by US Border Patrol agents Thursday after crossing into Yuma, Arizona from Mexico.

An Arizona city near the US-Mexico border is asking the Biden administration for an emergency declaration as Title 42 is set to expire Thursday night.

Yuma Mayor Douglas J. Nicholls said he wrote to President Joe Biden “demonstrating and demanding that he declare a national state of emergency due to this immigration crisis.”

The mayor said he demanded not just funding, but also additional resources on the ground. According to Nicholls, additional resources will help his community “protect our border,” along with migrants those who are crossing. 

Title 42 is a 2020 policy that allowed US authorities to expel migrants at the southern border to curb the spread of Covid-19. 

“Tonight, as we all know is going to be the sunset of Title 42 and the question keeps coming up, what now? Well, I’ve been asking that question for two years with no substantial response,” Nicholls said. “But the issues are here today, and those issues are in the form of people literally at the border and crossing the border. We’ve had an increase in the last month from 300 to 1,000 people and more every day.” 

Mayor Victor Treviño

The expected spike in migrants crossing the border into the United States ahead of the end of the Title 42 immigration policy requires a response similar to a natural disaster, the mayor of one border town said Thursday.

“We’re boarding up like there were a hurricane coming,” Laredo, Texas, Mayor Victor Treviño told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Treviño said they have safety concerns for the migrants themselves, noting that Laredo does not have a permanent pediatric intensive care unit.

“I don’t want to see any child get gravely ill and not be able to treat them,” he said.

The Laredo mayor said the border crisis was “avoidable for a long time” had immigration reform been put in place, and now his community is paying the price.

“At the end of the day, what has always been a federal problem for decades now has become a local problem for our border communities,” said Treviño.

The south Texas counties of Cameron and Hidalgo made disaster declarations Thursday ahead of Title 42’s expiration.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. issued his region’s declaration, citing “the imminent threat of the current Border Security Disaster,” according to a news release.

Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez issued a disaster declaration Thursday afternoon, according to a Facebook post.

Customs and Border Protection has informed the judge of “large groups of migrants” near the southern border who are “in search of crossing points,” Cortez wrote.

“I have decided to declare this emergency as a first step in securing all available state and federal resources to ensure the health and safety of our residents,” the judge added.

CNN’s Nick Valencia contributed to this report.

New York City plans to appeal a temporary restraining order against the city and Mayor Eric Adams that blocks the city from transporting migrants to a hotel in Rockland County.

A judge granted the order Friday in response to a lawsuit that claimed the city’s plan to bus migrants to a local hotel in Rockland County exceeded New York City’s legal authority.

“New York City has cared for more than 65,000 migrants — sheltering, feeding, and caring for them, and we have done so largely without incident,” Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for the mayor, told CNN. “We need the federal government to step up, but until they do, we need other elected officials around the state and country to do their part.”

A court hearing is scheduled for May 30 to determine if the temporary restraining order will be extended.

Some background: Adams announced last Friday the city planned to send willing migrants to neighboring communities ahead of a surge of migrants expected in the city following the expiration of Title 42.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said the county is dealing with its own housing crisis that has already subjected some low-income families to overcrowding.

“Quadrupling the number of homeless in this County overnight, as the City is intending to do, will only compound our housing crisis and lead to more people living in these dangerously inhumane conditions that we are fighting to fix,” Day said in a previous statement.

In the last 48 hours, about 1,500 migrants who had been waiting at border Gate 42, located in El Paso, Texas, have been transported and processed, according to US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.

Ortiz made the remarks to the media outside the gate and did not take questions from reporters.

Ortiz said an additional 1,000 migrants, including families, are still waiting to be processed.

Ortiz added that he hopes to transport and process the remaining migrants in the next 24 hours.

El Paso mayor Oscar Leeser speaks about a temporary shelter set up for processed migrants at the former Bassett Middle School in El Paso, Texas on Wednesday.

The fast-approaching end of the Title 42 immigration policy has prompted an uptick in migrants arriving in border towns.

The mayor of El Paso says the Texas city has the resources it needs for now, but that it’s not sustainable having to deal with this influx every few months. 

“Our community — and all communities across the country — we can’t continue to do this for eternity,” Mayor Oscar Leeser told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday.

Leeser called on Congress to find a compromise for immigration reform.

Leeser said many of the migrants now rushing to enter the US were lied to by smugglers who told them the border was open.

“A lot of them that are coming in today believe that if they’re here by the end of Title 42, they get political asylum, and that’s not a correct statement,” he said.

President Joe Biden met with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the White House Thursday ahead of the expiration of the Title 42 policy, the White House said in a tweet.

The meeting was held “to discuss ongoing actions across federal agencies, in partnership with countries across the Western Hemisphere, to humanely manage regional migration through enforcement, deterrence, and diplomacy,” the White House said.

See the tweet:

Migrants wait in the cold at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday.

The final day of Title 42 started off cold and dusty at the encampment where hundreds of migrants were waiting to get processed by immigration authorities near the banks of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas.

Under the light of a bright moon, migrants were wrapped in blankets sleeping on the dirt and others were standing trying to protect themselves from the cold breeze. 

The wind chill was piercing the girl’s blankets, not keeping her warm at all, they said. Right next to them was a 1-year-old girl who was also cold.

The couple didn’t want to be identified by name but said they were from Colombia.

CNN gained access to the area overnight Wednesday during a ride-along with members of the Texas National Guard. 

Guard members were assembling border barriers of concertina wire. Maneuvering the sharp metal is slow and coordinated.

Migrants arrive at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, on Thursday.

The commander of the operation, Maj. Sean Storrud with the Texas National Guard, said they’ve deployed more than 17 miles of border barrier in El Paso since December.

And as Title 42 ends, he says guard members are doing something different: They are creating gaps in the border barrier. 

“We actually created that gap not to admit people, but to give migrants the opportunity to go back,” Storrud said.

Guard members will explain to migrants that once Title 42 lifts, there are consequences to entering illegally. 

The National Guard member didn’t have an answer to the couple from Colombia about what they could or couldn’t do while they are in the encampment, which is an area under Border Patrol authority.

When asked why they had crossed Wednesday morning, the couple said they wanted to enter before the end of Title 42. 

“It’s impacting more Venezuelans, Haitians [than Colombians],” he said, referring to the expansion of Title 42 that includes the expulsion of certain nationalities. 

Once it expires tonight, the US government will return to a decades-old section of the US code known as Title 8, which Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned would carry “more severe” consequences for migrants found to be entering the country without a legal basis.

Then a group of three migrants walked toward border authorities to turn themselves. A woman in the group showed a small cut on her hand from the concertina wire they had just crossed. And her friend pointed to his ankle to reveal a gaping wound. 

Despite the wound, he continued walking toward immigration authorities. 

“The situation is tough in our countries,” the man said. And that is why so many migrants risk and endure everything to come to the United States.

Title 42 is set to end at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday — and after that, Title 8 will be back in effect.

Title 42 allowed border authorities to swiftly turn away migrants encountered at the US-Mexico border, often depriving migrants of the chance to claim asylum, and dramatically cut down on border processing time. But Title 42 also carried almost no legal consequences for migrants crossing, meaning if they were pushed back, they could try to cross again multiple times.

Once Title 42 lifts, the US government will return to a decades-old section of US code, known as Title 8, which Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned last week would carry “more severe” consequences for migrants found to be entering the country without a legal basis.

The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly stressed in recent months that migrants apprehended under Title 8 authority may face a swift deportation process, known as “expedited removal,” – plus a ban on reentry for at least five years. Those who make subsequent attempts to enter the US could face criminal prosecution, DHS has said.

The processing time for Title 8 can be lengthy, posing a steep challenge for authorities facing a high number of border arrests. By comparison, the processing time under Title 42 hovered around 30 minutes because migrants could be quickly expelled, whereas under Title 8, the process can take over an hour.

Title 8 allows for migrants to seek asylum, which can also be a drawn-out process that begins with a credible fear screening by asylum officers before migrants’ cases progress through the immigration court system.

Title 8 has continued to be used alongside Title 42 since the latter’s introduction during the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 1.15 million people apprehended at the southern border under Title 8 in fiscal year 2022, according to US Customs and Border Protection. More than 1.08 million people were expelled under Title 42 at the southern land border during that same period.

You can read more here about what happens when Title 42 expires.

The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday against Orange and Rockland counties for blocking the arrival of asylum seekers from New York City, according to court documents. 

“Orange and Rockland County’s Emergency Orders egregiously violate migrants’ rights,” said Amy Belsher, NYCLU director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation, in a statement.

“Migrants have every right to travel and reside anywhere in New York, free of xenophobic harassment and discrimination. People are not political pawns – both counties should welcome migrants into their communities, not unlawfully bar them from seeking refuge,” Belsher said.

When reached by CNN for comment, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said “we have not been served with any lawsuit.”

Rockland County said in a statement that while they don’t typically comment on pending litigation, they “feel strongly that what [they] are doing is right and legal as witnessed by the court’s Temporary Restraining Order granted Thursday.” 

The NYCLU further wrote that Orange and Rockland counties have “invoked an emergency that does not exist, raising the specter of ‘thousands’ of immigrants entering the Counties and burdening social services.”

“But there are no large-scale plans for migrants to move to these counties nor any immediate need for the counties to absorb the costs of caring for the limited migrants who do choose to do so. And the appropriate response would be to address the need, not to enact discriminatory and exclusionary policies,” the lawsuit read. 

A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office said Thursday the Orange County executive’s statement about alleged assurances that no asylum seekers from the city would arrive in the county is inaccurate.

CNN’s Polo Sandoval contributed to this report.

El Paso City Police and sanitation workers clear trash, blankets, and bedding that were left behind from a migrant encampment in an alley near the Sacred Heart Church in downtown El Paso, Texas, on Thursday.

The City of El Paso, in Texas, announced an increased law enforcement presence across the county, citing public safety as the end of Title 42 draws closer. 

Just a few miles outside the city center, hundreds of migrants are lining up outside Gate 42 at the southern border in El Paso as Title 42’s expiration draws closer. 

Migrants have been encamped and exposed to the elements all day in El Paso — cold in the evening and early morning hours and hot daytime temperatures that are scorching and dangerous in the Texas sun. 

CNN witnessed Border Patrol vehicles arrive with cases of bottled water as migrants wait in difficult conditions. A water truck was also seen spraying sand in the area, which becomes hot to the touch under the sun’s heat.

Border Patrol agents on scene who were not allowed to speak on the record told CNN there are “several hundred” migrants beyond the gate and the plan is to process them as space becomes available at detention centers in the area. 

Early Thursday morning, CNN witnessed several Border Patrol vehicles and officers take migrants into custody and transport them out of the area.

The House voted 219-213 Thursday to pass a sweeping GOP border security bill after Republican leaders worked to lock down votes and win over holdouts within their own party.

Republican Reps. Thomas Massie and John Duarte defected, voting no. 

The bill is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House has issued a veto threat. 

Passage of this bill serves as a messaging opportunity for the House Republican majority on one of their signature priorities.

Final passage was planned to coincide with the expiration of Title 42, the pandemic-era policy that allowed certain migrants to be turned away at the border.

The bill would restart construction of a border wall, increase funding for border agents and upgraded border technology, reinstate the “remain in Mexico” policy, place new restrictions on asylum seekers, and enhance requirements for E-verify, a database employers use to verify immigration status.

A bus carrying “a couple dozen” asylum seekers from New York City arrived in Orange County, New York, on Thursday, a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. 

The bus was carrying single men, but spokesperson Fabien Levy said he did not have an exact number for how many. Levy also told CNN he does not think there will be more buses sent out Thursday.

The arrival of the bus comes after Adams announced a plan to transport willing migrants to other neighboring New York communities, including Orange County, ahead of a surge of migrants expected to arrive in the city following the expiration of Title 42 on Friday. 

The city estimates that over 4,200 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City this week alone, Levy said. 

Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said Thursday that the bus arrived in the town of Newburgh, despite assurances from both state and New York City officials that “no buses with asylum seekers would be [in Orange County] until further notice.”

The county executive said that officials did not receive notification of the arrival of asylum seekers.

“Sadly, we have learned that you cannot trust the words of New York City’s mayor and the leadership of New York,” Neuhaus said. 

CNN has reached out to the offices of both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Adams for comment. 

As of Tuesday night, more than 65,000 asylum seekers have been processed through New York City’s intake system and offered a place to rest and 39,400 asylum seekers are currently in the care of the city, Levy said. 

As part of its effort to respond to the growing migrant crisis, the city has also opened 134 emergency shelters and eight “Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers” (HERCs), Levy said.

Texas National Guard soldiers place razor wire at a makeshift migrant camp located between the Rio Grande and the US-Mexico border fence on Thursday.

Homeland Security officials are staring down what’s been described as tough days and weeks ahead when Title 42 expires late Thursday, with one official telling CNN that “it will get worse.”

Hours away from the authority’s expiration, the question at the top of mind among officials is just how long a surge might last. Over the last two days, border authorities have taken more than 10,000 migrants into custody daily, marking a record for daily encounters. 

Administration officials have been keenly aware that Title 42 would eventually come to an end as the coronavirus pandemic receded. Over recent weeks and months, Homeland Security officials met regularly within the department and with White House officials to outline plans for the expiration of Title 42 and prepare for different scenarios. As numbers soared this week, those preparations have been put to the test. 

But Homeland Security officials have, over the course of the last year, privately expressed relief at the eventual end of Title 42 because the return to old protocols carries more legal consequences for migrants who are not eligible to remain in the US. But the immediate aftermath, they recognized, would be a challenge. 

But the immediate aftermath remains a concern. “It’s certainly going to tax us,” said another Homeland Security official. 

On Wednesday, US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz downplayed the anticipated surge when Title 42 lifts, telling reporters that what was expected to occur after its expiration has happened in the “last five to six days.”

“After May 11, I don’t expect us to have 17-18,000 apprehensions like some predicted,” Ortiz said. “I think that what we see now is a continued effort by some to message incorrectly that once Title 42 goes away it’s going to be a free for all along the border. I don’t see that being the case.”

With an influx of migrants expected to enter the US with the expiration of Title 42, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is relying on its disease detection platforms and communities may need to watch for possible cases of infectious disease, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday.

Like in past situations, clinicians need to recognize “we may have under-vaccinated people who are settling in communities, and we need to watch out for infectious threats,” she said. 

During a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas, asked how diseases will be detected at the United States’ southern border.

Walensky said the agency has surveillance platforms in place and a global presence in 60 countries, where it’s working on health security and disease detection.

Recently, the CDC has issued Health Alert Network advisories on Marburg virus and measles. 

Crenshaw also pushed Walensky on what the CDC has done to prepare for the end of Title 42. She responded that the agency has been working with the Department of Homeland Security for three years and would get back to him with the specific details of the agency’s work.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House on Thursday in Washington, DC.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the Biden administration has done everything possible to prepare for the expiration of Title 42 Thursday night and the potential incoming surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border. 

“We have done all we can, with the resources that we have and within the system that we are operating under,” he said to reporters during the White House’s daily news briefing.  

Asked by CNN’s Jeremy Diamond if the administration is expecting chaos at the border — even as they’ve had two years to prepare for the expiration of Title 42 — Mayorkas said “the challenge is and is going to be very difficult, and we have spoken repeatedly about the fact that that difficult may only increase at this time of transition.”

“It is going to take a period of time for our approach to actually gain traction and show results, and I’ve been very clear about that,” Mayorkas said. 

Mayorkas once again warned of the incoming strain on personnel and border facilities, “but we know how to manage through such strain,” adding that that “as difficult as it will be,” he has confidence in personnel. 

Mayorkas would not answer how long he believes a migrant surge could last, instead repeating that the administration trusts its approach.