EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Migrants along the U.S. border with Mexico sought shelter from the cold early Wednesday as restrictions that prevented many from seeking asylum in the U.S. remained in place beyond their expected end.
The US government asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday not to lift limits before Christmas, in a filing a day after Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary order to maintain pandemic-era restrictions. Before Roberts issued that order, they were due to expire on Wednesday.
Just after midnight, when Title 42 was due to be lifted, all was quiet on the banks of Rio Grande in El Paso, where the Texas National Guard was stationed. Hundreds of migrants had gathered at the concertina wire hung by the Texas National Guard, but left earlier in the evening after being instructed by US officials to proceed to a gate to be processed in small groups.
First Sergeant Suzanne Ringle said a woman in the crowd on the riverbank was in labor and was being assisted by Border Guard officers. She added that there were many children in the crowd.
In the Mexican city of Juarez, across the border from El Paso, hundreds of migrants remained in line hoping the restrictions would be lifted and they would be allowed through.
In Tijuana, where an estimated 5,000 migrants reside in more than 30 reception centers and many more rent rooms and apartments, things were quiet at the border on Tuesday evening as news spread among potential asylum seekers that nothing had changed. Layered, razor blade-covered walls that rise 30 feet (9 m) along the border with San Diego make the area discouraging to illegal crossings.
Under the restrictions, officials deported asylum seekers in the United States 2.5 million times and rejected most people who applied for asylum at the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19 under a public health rule called Title 42. Both the U.S. and international law guarantee the right to seek asylum.
The federal government also asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a last-minute attempt by a group of conservative-leaning states to uphold the measure. It acknowledged that ending the restrictions is likely to lead to “disruption and a temporary increase in illegal border crossings”, but said the solution is not to extend the rule indefinitely.
With the decision on what comes next, pressure is mounting in communities on both sides of the US-Mexico border.
In El Paso, Democratic mayor Oscar Leeser warned that cross-border shelters in Ciudad Juárez were overcrowded, with an estimated 20,000 migrants willing to enter the US
At one point late Tuesday, some migrants were allowed to enter in groups through a gate in the border wall between two bridges connecting downtown El Paso to Ciudad Juarez, which is not uncommon at this border spot. Word of the gate opening sent hundreds of people clambering down the concrete banks of the Rio Grande, leaving smoldering campfires behind.
The city raced to expand its capacity to accommodate more migrants by converting large buildings into shelters, while the Red Cross is bringing in 10,000 baby cots. Local officials also hope to ease pressure on shelters by chartering buses to other major cities in Texas or nearby states, bringing migrants one step closer to relatives and sponsors in partnership with nonprofits.
“We will remain prepared for whatever is coming,” Leeser said.
Members of the Texas National Guard, sent to El Paso this week by the state, used barbed wire to close off a hole in the border fence along one bank of the Rio Grande, which became a popular crossing point for migrants passing through shallow waters waded to approach immigration officials in recent days. They used a loudspeaker to announce in Spanish that it is illegal to cross there.
Texas said it sent 400 National Guard personnel to the border town after local officials declared a state of emergency. Leeser said the statement was largely focused on protecting vulnerable migrants, while a Texas National Guard statement said the deployment included troops used to “repel and return illegal immigrants.”
In San Diego, a sense of normalcy returned at the nation’s busiest border crossing, despite the uncertainty that led to Roberts’ decision. The San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce said it learned from U.S. Customs and Border Protection that the more modern, western half of the airport-sized pedestrian crossing would reopen to travelers heading to the U.S. at 6 a.m. Wednesday. , have been closed to almost all migrants since the beginning of 2020 to allow for the processing of title 42.
The reopening comes “just in time for last-minute shoppers, visiting relatives and those working during the holidays,” the chamber wrote to members. It said it did not know when the area would reopen to travelers heading to Mexico from the United States.
Immigration advocates have said that Title 42 restrictions, imposed under provisions of a 1944 health law, go against U.S. and international obligations to people fleeing to the U.S. to escape persecution, and that the pretense has become obsolete as the improving coronavirus treatments. They filed a lawsuit to end the use of Title 42; a federal judge sided with them in November, setting the December 21 deadline.
Conservative-leaning states appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that increasing numbers of migrants would take a toll on public services such as law enforcement and health care, and warned of an “unprecedented disaster” on the southern border. They said the federal government has no plan to deal with the surge in migrants.
The federal government opposed the appeal, telling the court on Tuesday it is sending more resources to the southern border in preparation for the end of Title 42. That includes more processing coordinators for border patrols, increased surveillance and heightened security at ports of entry, according to the administration of President Joe Biden.
About 23,000 agents are currently deployed to the southern border, according to the White House.
“The solution to that immigration problem cannot be to extend indefinitely a public health measure that everyone now recognizes has outlived its public health justification,” the Biden administration wrote in its letter to the Supreme Court.
Still, the government has also asked the court to give it some time to prepare if it decides to lift the restrictions. If the Supreme Court does anything before Friday, the government wants the restrictions to apply until the end of December 27. If the court does anything on Friday or later, the government wants the limits to remain in place until the second business day after such an order.
At a church-affiliated shelter in El Paso a few blocks from the border, Rev. Michael Gallagher said local faith leaders have been trying to pool resources and open empty space. On Tuesday, a gym at Sacred Heart Church housed 200 migrants — mostly women and children. Dozens of people slept on the street outside the church on Wednesday morning.
Title 42 allows the government to expel asylum seekers of all nationalities, but it disproportionately affects people from countries whose citizens Mexico has agreed to take in: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and, more recently, Venezuela, in addition to Mexico .
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Santana reported from Washington, D.C. Juan Lozano in Houston and Alicia Fernández in Ciudad Juárez contributed to this report.