New Surge of Illegal Immigrants Expected. Meanwhile, Biden May Repeal of Trump-Era Rule That Checked Unlawful Migration

WASHINGTON, DC, Mar 28 – Border authorities are bracing for an unprecedented surge of illegal immigrants at our southern border. In addition to the annual springtime increase in the numbers of migrants, there is concern on both sides of the aisle that President Biden may be planning to do away with a Trump-era public health order, Title 42, that slowed down the surge at the border. 

It’s a bipartisan concern. It prompted the two Democratic Senators from Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema, and Mark Kelly, to warn President Biden that scraping Title 42 as early as April 1 at the end of this week would exacerbate the situation at the Mexican border. The threat also prompted Senator Rick Scott, R-FL, and more than a dozen of his colleagues to send their own warning to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. 

Scott’s letter cautioned Mayorkas that Title 42 “served as an effective deterrent to illegal border crossings by removing the prospect of an illegal alien being permitted to remain in and move freely throughout the United States pending the outcome of immigration proceedings. With this news, there are reports that thousands of migrants are waiting just south of the border in Mexico to cross illegally. Obviously, this is a grave concern that threatens to overwhelm our already strained immigration system and will only exacerbate a disastrous situation at our southern border.”

In fact, recent reports indicate that we can expect a new surge at the border in the coming days and weeks – as many as 8,000 a day or more. That’s twice the daily number of unlawful migrants we’ve seen knocking at the door since the 2019 surge when President Trump was in office.   Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told CNN it “will probably become the norm over the next 30 to 45 days.”

The authorities are taking the situation at the border seriously enough that the Commander of the U.S. Northern Command, General Glen VanHerck, says the DHS has requested troops to help secure the border. 

According to Fox News, the number of illegals rose to nearly 165,000 last month, compared to 101,099 in February 2021 and just 36,687 in February 2020. Things were so bad in the month after President Biden’s inauguration that the Border Patrol was overwhelmed and wound up releasing the unlawful migrants into the country.  

If, when, and how President Biden will respond to Senators Sinema, Kelly, and Scott’s pleas to uphold Title 42 is anybody’s guess. Thus far, he has not referred to the crisis at our southern border except for comments he made in a meeting with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda over the weekend. It’s been reported that Mr. Biden, who is known as “Mr. Malaprop” in some circles, told President Duda: “The fact that you have so many, so many, Ukrainians seeking refuge in this country of Poland, we understand that because we have on our southern border thousands of people a day, literally not figuratively, trying to get into the U.S.”

Comparing the plight of Ukrainian citizens seeking asylum because Russian soldiers are likely to kill them and their families with the illegal migrants at our southern border apparently seemed inappropriate to President Duda. He is quoted as saying, ‘We do not want to call them refugees. They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine, who today are in a very difficult situation,’  

In her story about the incident, Emily Goodin, the Mail’s senior U.S. political reporter, noted the United Nations says the plight of the Ukrainian people is considered to be the “worst humanitarian crisis since World War II … In contrast, the officials on the United States border are dealing with a flux of immigrants, many from Latin American countries, who are seeking a better life … But most of the crossings are illegal, and they are on the rise.”