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Title 42, one of the last Trump-era immigration policies, and a bulwark against an almost guaranteed chaotic surge in immigration, is set to expire on May 11. And Border Agents say that a perfect storm of immigrants simply waiting out the clock, and the Biden administration giving little to no information or preparation to Border Agents has the potential to create even more chaos on the southern border than there is now.

The order was put in place by former President Donald Trump in March 2020 and was designed to give the federal government the authority to take action regarding public health and social welfare events like COVID-19. The use of Title 42 resulted in roughly 2.5 million migrants being expelled from the U.S.

The battle over keeping Title 42 in place, and the Biden administration’s attempt to let as many illegal immigrants into the country as possible has raged for months. The order was originally set to expire on December 21, but Chief Justice John Roberts issued a stay after several states appealed to the Court to stop the ending of the order. The stay overrode an earlier ruling in November of 2022 voiding the order. At the end of 2022, Republicans and others trying to keep the order in place got a major victory when the Supreme Court ruled that Title 42 could not be terminated. However, oral arguments over the order were heard in February, and a final decision on Title 42 will come in June.

But that is little help to Border Agents, who say they expect a massive flood of immigrants as soon as the order expires. Agents who work the front lines on the border say they are just being told to “mentally ready themselves for the worst.” In the words of one agent, “brace for f***ing impact,” and “prepare to weather the storm.” According to a memo put out by the Department of Homeland Security, they expect requests for asylum to push 1,000 per day, but many Border Patrol agents say they are concerned that they do not have the capacity to process that many people, and no guidance is being issued on how to handle the uptick in processing. There is also the issue of housing facilities not designed to handle the influx and the bigger issue of illegals being able to claim asylum. One agent said:

Our facilities aren’t designed for large quantities of people. They are temporary housing facilities. When Title 42 is lifted, we will process them under immigration law, which governs when the migrants should be deported, detained, etc. We must also comply with U.S. asylum law, which will allow migrants to claim asylum, even when they entered illegally.

The lack of direction — or even interest  — in what many agents say is impending chaos by the Biden administration is not new. In January, during a traditionally slow period for border crossings, and in the middle of a cold snap, Joe Biden went to El Paso, where hundreds of illegals were forced to sleep on the streets in freezing temperatures and had essentially set up camps due to the overwhelming of city services. The surge caused El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, to declare a state of emergency. But prior to Biden’s visit, city streets were cleared of all migrants, causing a “crisis, what crisis?” reaction from Biden. In an attempt to address what DHS says will be a surge of roughly 14,000 migrants a day at the border, in January, the Biden administration announced a plan where migrants would have an exception where they would be granted entry by a phone application called CBP One, or at an airport for humanitarian reasons.

But that will do little to head off the onslaught that Border Patrol not only knows is coming, but knows the Biden administration is both unable and unwilling to give them the assistance and resources they need. One border agent seemed to put into words what many are fearing, saying:

There are thousands and thousands just waiting for Title 42 to end. I would say a fear is that the Biden Admin has no clue just how bad it’s going to get. We can barely actively patrol the border now. When Title 42 ends, all of our resources, all of our little manpower that we do have, are going to be focused on processing. Field work will nearly cease to exist in my opinion.

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