HIDALGO COUNTY, Texas (NewsNation) — As the Biden administration prepares to lift COVID-19 restrictions on the U.S.-Mexico border, a majority of Americans oppose the decision. Texans and local officials are also sounding the alarm about the surge of migrants they say will flood their cities after Title 42 ends.
Jeanette Martinez is a born and raised South Texan. She’s owned her home in La Joya for the last 13 years, and right across the way is a park with a playground, but she and her kids don’t ever go.
“Sometimes we have illegals who do hide over there in the restrooms, so that’s one of those things why I will not go in the park or go walking,” Martinez said.
Migrant crossings are part of everyday life in the Rio Grande Valley, as busloads get picked up by U.S. Border Patrol agents.
In March, officials at the southern border encountered more than 220,000 migrants at the border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. But, if Title 42, the COVID-19 provision used to limit the number of migrants who illegally cross into the U.S., expires in May, law enforcement believes they could see as many as half a million migrant encounters per month.
“With the anticipation of Title 42 being completely rescinded, that’s going to create even more mass migration at our Southwest border also with drug smuggling, the criminal activity that’s taking place and those individuals that could be potential terrorists and gang members,” said Lt. Christopher Olivarez
In the valley, it’s been a nonstop week; Border Patrol agents encountered two large groups of migrants totaling 468 — more than half were single adults, and 167 were from Cuba. Another 13 were found trying to smuggle into the U.S. while hiding in a container hidden among bales of hay on a trailer.
But it’s not just adults; a 2-year-old boy was found unaccompanied among a group of 38 near Roma.
This is her reality every day for Martinez, yet it still scares her.
“They do a lot of patrolling; they just gotta, I don’t know, have somebody here at all times, I don’t know,” Martinez said.