(NewsNation) — Border Patrol agents are “overwhelmed” with the influx of migrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border and it’s why some officials at the border are against ending Title 42, at least for now.
Brandon Judd, president of the Nation Border Patrol Council, refuted comments made by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in which he said the United State had “effectively managed” the surge of migrants heading to the border.
Judd says that’s not true at all, point out that there are large stretches of the border left completely unpatrolled.
“That’s not handling the border properly,” Judd said.
In March, there were more than 225,000 encounters with migrants at the border, the highest figure in two decades.
Agents are “overwhelmed” Judd said, spending most of their days processing migrants rather than patrolling the border.
Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber is waiting anxiously to see what happens in his region, where migrant encounters are up 184% this fiscal year. He does not think now is the right time to end Title 42, which allows the U.S. to turn migrants away at the border without allowing them to first apply for asylum.
‘We can get rid of Title 42, but not right now,” Schmerber said. “Maybe when we have a solution or control. Right now, there (are) a lot of immigrants on the other side … just waiting to come in, to open the gates.”
When the Biden administration proposed ending Title 42, which was enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, it created a standoff between him and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, which led to Abbott pushing a border policy that led to a blockage of trucks at the border.
A federal judge in Louisiana ordered the Biden administration to stop phasing out Title 42, or to end it outright May 23.
U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays, in Lafayette, issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday, saying the administration must stop the stepped-up processing for at least the next two weeks. He also said in his ruling that states suing to stop the termination of the public health policy are likely to succeed in court.
A total of 22 states are challenging plans to keep the administration from ending the expulsion policy, which was put in place under former President Donald Trump’s administration in 2020 in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Louisiana, Arizona and 19 other states filed suit in U.S. District Court in Lafayette, Louisiana. Texas filed a similar suit in Victoria, Texas, on Friday.
Judd, however, believes the best plan to stopping the influx of migrants from coming to the United States has less to do with Title 42 and more to do with imposing harsher deterrence policies at the border.
“You must either hold people in custody pending an asylum ordinance or deportation proceeding and you must get rid of the catch-and-release magnet that draws so many people across here,” Judd said. “Once that is done, illegal immigration will drop to astronomical lows.”