With Trump-era COVID restrictions on migrants crossing the border set to expire this week, a number of cities across the country are bracing for a surge of individuals entering the country through Mexico.
The rule, known as Title 42, allows federal officials to prevent asylum seekers from entering the country during public health emergencies. The Trump administration invoked the rule during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and it has been used more than 2.5 million times to expel migrants since March 2020, although that number includes people who repeatedly attempted to cross the border.
But with the pandemic waning, the Biden administration is poised to let the rule expire on Wednesday. A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for the lifting of Title 42, unless further court action authorizes a delay.
In early December, a coalition of mayors from 32 cities penned a letter to Congress requesting more aid in preparation for the end of Title 42, specifically $500 million for FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program and $300 million for humanitarian assistance.
“With the likely end of Title 42, even our most well-funded nonprofit partners will be overwhelmed, raising the urgency of this call to action,” the group of mayors noted in the letter, later adding: “Without this funding, our partners will have to make tough choices about who they serve and the quality of their care.”
The letter’s signatories included mayors from cities across the country, including Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, Louisville, Kentucky mayor Greg Fischer, Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell, Tucson, Arizona mayor Regina Romero and others.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday said his city is bracing for another influx of buses carrying thousands of migrants from the U.S. border with Mexico and asked the federal government for added support.
“With the expiration of Title 42 just days away, we need the federal government — both in the administration and in Congress — to share their plans to move asylum seekers to other cities, to allow asylum seekers to work, and to send aid to the cities that have borne the brunt of this crisis,” Adams said in a statement Sunday.
The city says it has absorbed more than 31,000 asylum seekers, putting further stress on emergency shelters.
“We have been told in no uncertain terms that, beginning today, we should expect an influx of buses coming from the border and that more than 1,000 additional asylum seekers will arrive in New York City every week,” Adams said.
He did not disclose the source of that information.
While Adams said his city is ready to provide humanitarian aid to asylum seekers, he urged the state and federal officials to do more.
“Our requests for assistance have been mostly ignored,” he said. “And while the New York federal delegation has repeatedly advocated for funding to be sent back to New York City, many in Congress — both Republicans and Democrats — have refused to lift a finger.”
A coalition of GOP-led states, including Texas, want Title 42 to remain in place. Several Republican attorneys general on Monday filed an emergency order urging the Supreme Court to temporarily halt the lifting of the policy. The high court granted the request Monday evening.
“Getting rid of Title 42 will recklessly and needlessly endanger more Americans and migrants by exacerbating the catastrophe that is occurring at our southern border,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich wrote in a statement. “Unlawful crossings are estimated to surge from 7,000 per day to as many as 18,000.”
Since April, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bused thousands of migrants to New York and Washington. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, another Republican, followed suit soon after.
El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told The Associated Press on Sunday that the region, home to one of the busiest border crossings in the country, was coordinating housing and relocation efforts with groups and other cities, as well as calling on the state and federal government for humanitarian help.
On Saturday, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser issued an emergency declaration to access additional local and state resources for building shelters and other urgently needed aid.
Samaniego noted that a day earlier, El Paso officials sent Gov. Abbott a letter requesting humanitarian assistance for the region, adding that the request was for resources to help tend to and relocate the newly arriving migrants, not additional security forces.
Samaniego said he has received no response to the request and plans to issue a similar county-wide emergency declaration specifying the kind of help the area needs if the city does not get state aid soon. He urged the state and federal governments to provide the additional money, adding they had a strategy in place but were short in financial, essential and volunteer resources.
El Paso officials have been coordinating with organizations to provide temporary housing for migrants while they are processed and given sponsors and relocate them to bigger cities where they can be flown or bused to their final destinations, Samaniego said. As of Wednesday, they will all join forces at a one-stop emergency command center, Samaniego said, similarly to their approach to the COVID-19 emergency.