Title 42 expiration: Border sees surge in migrants

TEMPE, Ariz. (NewsNation) — Law enforcement along the southern border is dealing with a surge of migrants and bracing for more as the pandemic-era migrant expulsion program nears its end.

Title 42 is set to expire in just over two weeks, and the number of illegal crossings is already exploding.

In the Rio Grande Valley Sector, U.S. Border Patrol has reported agents in Brownsville seeing large groups, some upward of a thousand, crossing each day.

Just days ago, more than a thousand migrants stormed a vehicle checkpoint, prompting border officials to close the Gateway International Bridge for several hours. Barricades were even put up to prevent people from crossing overnight.

The Rio Grande Valley used to be the busiest sector for decades before the Del Rio Sector, which is now seeing increased migrant traffic.

El Paso is taking the top spot this fiscal year. CBP agents reported the sector has seen an increase of 134% over the last fiscal year. CBP sources told NewsNation that many of the surges have been attributed to misinformation spread online.

The misinformation online promoted easy access to the states for migrants who submitted an application on the CBP One™ app. The misinformation told migrants there would be no wait at the border. Instead, those who submitted the application could go to a certain gate and self-surrender to agents where they will allow them to stay.

Thousands attempted this over the last week.

Many of those crossing who do not qualify for Title 42 face removal proceedings under Title 8. However, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has allowed a majority to be released with a notice to appear on their own recognizance and told to link up with an immigration office at their final destination.

“What is the agency doing? How are they preparing? The way they’re preparing is they’re releasing people at a faster rate, and teaching them many times, barring them. Because what they’re saying is we got to keep it under a certain percentage of capacity because we know the surge is coming,” Art Del Cueto, the National Border Patrol Council vice president and spokesperson, said.

And right now, a caravan of roughly 3,000 migrants has broken off from the camp in Tapachula and is heading to Mexico City in what they’re calling a mass protest.

They’re demanding an end to detention centers like the one just on the other side of El Paso that caught fire last month, leaving 40 people dead.

While they’re heading to Mexico City, many have the end goal of the U.S. southern border.

Devan Markham contributed to this report.

Migrants start walking north on their way to Mexico City from Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, April 23, 2023.(AP Photo/Edgar Hernandez Clemente)
Migrants who are taking part in a caravan rest on the outskirts of Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Migrants set out Sunday on what they call a mass protest procession through southern Mexico to demand the end of detention centers like the one that caught fire last month, killing 40 migrants. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)
Migrants who are taking part in a caravan rest on the outskirts of Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Migrants set out Sunday on what they call a mass protest procession through southern Mexico to demand the end of detention centers like the one that caught fire last month, killing 40 migrants. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)
Migrants who are taking part in a caravan rest on the outskirts of Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Migrants set out Sunday on what they call a mass protest procession through southern Mexico to demand the end of detention centers like the one that caught fire last month, killing 40 migrants. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)
Migrants start walking north from Tapachula, Chiapas state, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Migrants, stuck in southern Mexico and angry about 40 of their own who died in a fire in a detention facility last month, began walking towards Mexico City. (AP Photo/Edgar Hernandez Clemente)
Migrants start walking north from Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Migrants stuck in southern Mexico and angry about 40 of their own who died in a fire at a detention facility last month, began walking toward Mexico City. (AP Photo/Edgar Hernandez Clemente)
A migrant holds a cross with text that reads in Spanish “State crime. Dead.” as he and others start walking north from Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Migrants in southern Mexico, angry about 40 of their own who died in a fire at a detention facility last month, began walking toward Mexico City. (AP Photo/Edgar Hernandez Clemente)
FILE – Authorities work at the site of a deadly fire at an immigration detention center, where covered bodies lie on the ground in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, March 28, 2023. When a fire broke out at a Mexican immigration detention facility last month, dramatically different reactions by guards in the men’s and women’s sections appeared to make a difference in who lived and died, according to previously unreported surveillance videos and witness statements viewed by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez, File)
A makeshift altar in honor of migrants who died in last month’s fire, sits outside the immigration detention center where a dormitory fire killed more than three dozen people, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)