Migrants keep arriving in El Paso as temperatures plummet with five days until the end of Title 42

The countdown to an expected further influx of asylum seekers brought large numbers of migrants crossing into the U.S. amid unusually chilly temperatures at the Southern border, with Title 42 authorities scheduled to end next week.

Those restrictions, imposed by former President Donald Trump, are set to end Wednesday, in an event expected to trigger an even greater flow of migrants to a region coping to respond.

Already, an estimated 2,500 people, including many families with children, are making it across shallow Rio Grande crossings each day – an amount that local officials estimate could double after next week.

Last month, federal district court judge Emmett Sullivan ruled against the policy, calling it ‘arbitrary and capricious.’ And on Thursday, a federal judge blocked the Trump-era ‘remain in Mexico’ policy, which allowed for asylum-seekers to be held south of the border as they awaited hearings in backlogged U.S. immigration courts. 

The Department of Homeland Security said it disagreed with the Texas ruling and the Biden administration could appeal. 

The legal wrangling comes as officials warn the number of migrants crossing daily into the U.S. from Mexico could reach 14,000 a day when the pandemic-era expulsion policy Title 42 ends December 21, just days before Christmas. 

Mario D’Agostino, the deputy city manager of El Paso, Texas, called the number of border crossers ‘unsustainable.’

‘What we’re seeing right now is a complete surge,’ he told Fox News. ‘We’re already at over 2,500 apprehensions per day in the El Paso region. That’s equating to about 1,600 releases here in our community every day.’

Officials say resources at the border are severely strained

Temperatures dropped to 33 degrees on Friday in El Paso, where border crossers are heading from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

On Thursday, a federal judge blocked the Trump-era ‘remain in Mexico’ policy

The surge comes right before Christmas, and comes amid the collapse of an effort to provide legal status for 2 million ‘Dreamers’

The crossings come amid an unusual cold weather snap. Today’s low temperature in El Paso was 33 degrees, with a predicted drop down to 26 degrees Saturday – producing images of migrants wading across the Rio Grande to try to enter the U.S., then huddling in blankets to try to stay warm.  

The government has used Title 42, which cites the health risks due to COVID-19, 2.5 million times to expel migrants since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Even amid the crush at the border, the Washington Post reported on the drop in legal immigration, citing experts who said the country is short 1.7 million legal immigrants from pre-pandemic levels – with ripple effects in services and low-skilled jobs that rely on them.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday accused Republicans of playing ‘political stunts’ with the situation at the border and not willing to help actually fix the problem.

‘Many Republicans say over and over and over again that we need to do at the border that we need to secure the border, but yet they refuse to work with us on this piece of legislation,’ she said.