
On Thursday, Title 42, a pandemic-era health order that allowed the government to quickly expel migrants entering the country illegally expired. However, following the expiration the surge in migrant encounters that was originally expected did not fully come to fruition.
On Friday, Border Patrol apprehended more than 6,200 undocumented migrants who had illegally crossed the border. However, that figure from the first day following the expiration of Title 42 was far lower than the 11,000 apprehended on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the 10,000 apprehended on Thursday.
On Friday, the mayor of El Paso also admitted that there had not been any great increase in the numbers they see. Many of the migrants already in El Paso have also noted that online rumors and rumors in Juárez, Mexico wanted the best time to cross the border to be before the expiration of Title 42. As a result, many currently fear that following the end of Title 42, it is going to be harder for people to enter the U.S.
Rosa, 30, who arrived from Venezuela with her husband and three young kids arrived at the Rescue Mission shelter. The family turned themselves in a week earlier as they are currently seeking asylum. Rosa specifically shared that under Title 8, there would be a number of penalties that those who enter the country illegally could face, however, those had been suspended under Title 42, which is why many people repeatedly attempted to cross the border.
As she noted, following the end of Title 42, there is a lot of uncertainty about whether immigrants would be able to turn themselves in after arriving in the U.S.