Hours after the Biden administration insisted its new border immigration strategy would be a success, the stream of migrants crossing on to U.S. soil showed no sign of slowing in Yuma, Arizona.
With the clock ticking down until the end of Title 42, a group of about 50 Peruvians came around the edge of the towering border wall at a run.
One slowed to a trot to shout a question: ‘Where’s Border Patrol?’ Then they were off again trying to escape into the night before a new shift arrived in this dusty corner of south-western America.
Border cities braced this week for the end of Title 42 – a pandemic-era regulation that allowed migrants to be sent straight back to Mexico without even applying for asylum.
It officially ended a minute before midnight eastern time on Thursday night.
A group of migrants from Senegal and Mauritania arrived on US soil, just beating the clock on Thursday night as the end of Title 42 loomed in Yuma, Arizona
As they arrived, two patrol vehicles of the Bureau of Land Management ranger service arrived to intercept them. They beat the Title 42 deadline by about 15 minutes
In fact, the surge began days before the deadline. Officials have said that some 10,000 people have been detained at the border per day this week.
Thousands forded the Rio Grande, which marks the international border to arrive in Brownsville. In El Paso, they stepped across a muddy stream and through coils of razor wire.
In Yuma, on Thursday night, 53-year-old Ruth raised her hand heavenwards in thanks.
‘We praise God for opening the way for us,’ she said, as her 12-year-old son skipped alongside her.
But as Title 42 ended, the Biden administration insisted it had a new tough regimen to thwart would-be migrants.
‘People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution,’ said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement released a minute before midnight.
‘Together with our partners throughout the federal government and Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition.’
The new policy suffered an immediate setback, however.
Earlier, dozens of Peruvians arrived to find there were no border officers to hand themselves into. They stopped to take water from a bowser and then headed on their way
The minutes before midnight eastern (9pm PST) brought an influx of arrivals in Yuma
In this aerial picture taken on May 11, 2023 migrants line up to walk to board vans after waiting along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing upon crossing the Rio Grande river into the United Staes on the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas
Migrants wait along the border wall to surrender to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents for immigration and asylum claim processing upon crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States on the US-Mexico border in El Paso
A judge in Florida ruled the administration could not use parole – effectively releasing unprocessed migrants – in order to relieve pressure on detention facilities.
That might not come soon enough for officials in border towns and cities.
With minutes to go, another group of dozens of migrants, this time mostly from Senegal came running into view. This time they were mostly from Senegal, and this time Bureau of Land Management rangers pulled up to intercept them before they could disappear into the night.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has already run out of room at its holding facilities, with 28,000 migrants, according to the head of the Border Patrol union.
In some places, that means migrants are being released without being properly processed and court dates set.
One of the hotspots is Yuma. On Thursday morning, hundreds of migrants could be seen lining up to be processed by CBP after stepping on to U.S. territory.
And hours before Title 42 ended, the city’s mayor demanded that Biden declare a national emergency to divert more federal support to border communities.
And Mayor Douglas Nicholls said CBP would release 141 illegal migrants on to the streets on Friday, the first such release in two years.
He said the emergency was not unforeseen but that the administration had failed to prepare.
‘We see the costs of illegal activity as many migrants fall victim to cartels, who traffic both drugs and humans across the border and into the U.S. in dangerous and often deadly manners,’ wrote Nicholls in a letter to Biden.
‘These activities are business operations to cartels, and lead to the exploitation and rape and abuse and neglect.’
Title 42 was activated by the Trump administration to stem the spread of COVID-19. It is a public health measure that allows border authorities to immediately expel arrivals before they could even claim asylum.
But with the pandemic over, it finally expires at midnight eastern time on Thursday.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas explained Thursday that the end of Title 42 meant migrants would now be processed under Title 8
The Biden administration has rushed through new restrictions, effectively restoring Trump’s ‘transit ban,’ which allows for the deportation of arrivals who did not seek asylum in countries through which they traveled.
Migrants can legally present themselves at the border if they used a mobile app, CBP One, to register in advance.
But that has still left the Biden administration scrambling to get out the message that the gates to the U.S. are not being thrown open.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas explained Thursday that the end of Title 42 meant migrants would now be processed under Title 8.
‘Here’s what that means,’ he said. ‘If anyone arrives at our southern border after midnight tonight, they will be presumed ineligible for asylum and subject to steeper consequences for unlawful entry, including a minimum five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution.’
Don’t listen to the people offering you a path to the promised land, he added.
‘Know this: Smugglers care only about profits not people,’ he said.
That did not impress the Yuma sherriff.
‘It’s a cluster,’ Yuma Sheriff Leon Wilmot told DailyMail.com Thursday in an exclusive interview about the end of Title 42. He and his county are in the frontline of the border crisis
Hours before Title 42 was lifted, hundreds of migrants lined up on U.S. soil in Yuma to begin the process of applying for asylum. Numbers have surged in recent days
Sheriff Leon Wilmot told DailyMai.com that the lack of preparation meant President Joe Biden was unable to enforce existing border laws and said overwhelmed authorities in nearby Cochise County were already releasing people on to the streets without proper processing or court dates.
He reserved particular fury for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and claims that the U.S. was toughening its response.
‘Any good leader that was facing this kind of situation would have stood up Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), got emergency funding for ICE, put up shelters in their temporary buildings to accommodate all this, so proper processing could be done,’ he said.
‘He did none of this. So he doesn’t have a plan.
‘His plan is obviously intentionally to just allow everybody into this country and try to track down that many millions of people years down the road.
‘It’s a false narrative that this administration is pushing to the American people.’