Over 500 migrants surge US border at El Paso

At least 500 migrants attempted to illegally cross into the US at border hot spot El Paso Wednesday — wrongly believing they could get free passage to Canada or laws had changed allowing them to seek asylum on American soil.

US Border Patrol agents in El Paso said they encountered the surge of migrants between 8:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. around one of the main border gates into the country.

Photos and video from the area show hundreds of hopeful asylum seekers from central and south America lined up at the border fence, a scene not seen in 2023 after the government expanded the number of countries whose citizens are expelled under Title 42.

Border agents said most of the migrants were from Venezuela, and many told them they had been told US border policies had changed and they would be allowed to stay in America if they crossed the border – rumors likely spread through social media.

Omar Ornelas/El Paso Times / USA

Omar Ornelas/El Paso Times / USA

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Sources told The Post other migrants had heard about New York City funding free bus tickets to migrants who want to pursue asylum claims in Canada and wrongly believed they would be sent there if they crossed the border.

However, border agents informed the migrants no policies have changed and under measure Title 42, the US is still expelling illegal border crossers from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Haiti back to Mexico.

In a statement issued Thursday, Border Patrol said: “The El Paso Sector would like to inform migrants that nothing has changed. The US Border Patrol in the El Paso Sector continues to expel migrants under CDC’s Title 42 authority.”

Buses to Canada have been laid on from New York by charity organizations, as the city struggles to deal with some 40,000 migrants who have been bused their by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, as well as El Paso mayor Oscar Leeser.

Abbott recently tweeted about the program, calling Mayor Eric Adams a hypocrite. 

“New York City is busing migrants north after attacking the Texas busing mission,’ Abbott wrote Thursday.

“They experience a FRACTION of what small Texas border towns deal with every single day.

“Biden’s open border policies forced Texas to step up. Now, NYC follows our lead.”

The Post first reported about the controversial program on Sunday, which sees migrants receive free tickets at the city’s Port Authority bus terminal courtesy of charities funded by taxpayers.

Adams has defended the busing program, claiming he is helping migrants reach their preferred destination. 

However, as The Post has reported, some migrants regret their decision and soon turn around from the frozen north to head straight back to NYC.

El Paso started bussing migrants in August 2022 after being completely overwhelmed by them flooding across the border, mostly Venezuelans fleeing their country’s economic ruin.

The city recorded more than 18,000 migrants using its community centers between October 12 and December 14, with 500 people being processed every day – so many there wasn’t enough beds for all of them and some had to sleep on streets. 

During the 2022 fiscal year, the US Customs and Border Protection performed 2.4 million stops along the border, an all-time high and in December alone, border agents logged more than 251,000 migrant arrests, the highest monthly total on record. 

However since Title 42 was extended to include Venezuelans and other nations the number of border crossers has dramatically dropped. But as of Thursday morning, hundreds of migrants continued to line up at the El Paso border.

@USBPChiefEPT

@USBPChiefEPT

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@USBPChiefEPT

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Title 42 – a pandemic era health policy allowing expulsion based on fears of spreading COVID-19 in the country – was set to expire in December, but has been extended until Spring. Many migrants are still trying to cross into the country and gain asylum applications because they believe it will be even harder once Title 42 expires.

That could become true, with a Washington Post report saying the Biden Administration is working on an agreement with Mexico which would fast-track the expulsion of many migrants and put in place stiffer penalties for illegal crossers. 

The deal would see the migrants arrested, deported to Mexico and barred from the US for five years. If they chose to illegally enter the US again, they could face felony charges and jail time.