The Biden Administration Has Been Planning To Tell Mexico That A Trump-Era Policy Could Soon End And Attract More Immigrants To The Border

The Department of Homeland Security is planning to tell Mexico that a controversial border policy enacted during the swine flu epidemic may end as soon as April, which could lead to an increase of immigrants coming to the border and a strain on resources, according to documents obtained by.

The existence of such planning, which was revealed in a draft document, comes as the Biden administration deals with the aftermath of two federal court orders on the border policy known as Title 42, which has been met with rebukes from Senate Democrats and immigrant advocates who have long argued it is illegal.

Donald Trump used Title 42 to block immigrants from the US asylum system and to expel them at the border. Some immigrants are quickly deported to Mexico, while others are flown back to their home countries. During court challenges, President Joe Biden has continued to enforce the policy, expelling people at the border more than 1 million times.

A pair of court rulings, including one in which a judge ordered the continuation of immigrant children being turned back at the border, could spell the end of the policy. The end of Title 42 has been planned by the DHS, according to a senior official. The department's contingency planning is mentioned in the draft document obtained by the news site. The administration was leaning towards ending Title 42, according to a report on Wednesday.

Alejandro Mayorkas is expected to meet with Mexican officials next week.

If Title 42 is no longer in place, the agency will need to return to pre-COVID practices, which would allow immigrants to seek asylum and protection within the US. Prior to Title 42, immigrants at the border could apply for asylum and their claims were evaluated to determine if they could remain in the country to pursue their cases.

The draft DHS document warns that those prepandemic practices could lead to a challenging humanitarian situation in northern Mexico. The number of immigrants crossing the border without authorization is a concern for the department.

Title 42 gave the Biden administration more than a year to consider changes to border policies. It's not clear if any major changes will be in place when Title 42 goes away. The administration wants to dramatically change how asylum-seekers are processed in order to address a huge amount of immigration court cases, which could potentially cut the wait period for some applicants by years. The final version of the plan would change the decision-making power of an immigration judge to an asylum officer if certain immigrants are granted asylum at the border.