Expiry of US pandemic rules fuels migrant rush

Pandemic-related asylum restrictions that expelled migrants millions of times were lifted early on Friday, as people raced to enter the United States before new rules announced by President Joe Biden's administration set in.

The expired rule, known as Title 42, was reintroduced by former president Donald Trump in March 2020. It has allowed US border patrol officers to turn away migrants immediately for the past couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic even if they had asked for asylum. It expired at 11:59 pm on Thursday.

But the Biden administration issued an executive order on Wednesday that would deny asylum to migrants who arrived in the US without first applying online or seeking asylum in the country they passed through. Migrants caught crossing the border illegally would not be able to enter the US for five years after Title 42 ends.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a news conference on Thursday that the administration is prepared to deal with the migrant surge, but he said it will take time "for those results to be fully realized".

Mayorkas also warned migrants contemplating coming to the US: "Smugglers have been long hard at work spreading false information that the border will be open. They are lying. To people who are thinking of making the journey to our southern border, know this — smugglers care only about profits, not people. Do not risk your life and your life savings only to be removed from the United States if and when you arrive here."

The new system aims to get asylum-seekers to stop coming across the border illegally and start using an online system to book appointments to seek asylum at ports of entry, but many migrants were not sure whether to trust it.

Mass movement

Chaotic scenes unfolded of migrants scrambling to enter the country on Thursday before Title 42 expired. Thousands of migrants have waded through rivers, hoping to be processed before midnight.

Some migrants turned themselves in to border officials. Others tried to cross undetected.

At Matamoros, across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, migrant families hesitated only briefly as the deadline passed and asylum restrictions shifted before entering the waters of the Rio Grande from Mexico, holding cell phones above the water to light the way toward the US.

US authorities shouted for the migrants to turn back.

While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. After Thursday, migrants face being barred from entering the US for five years and possible criminal prosecution.

"I don't know what's going to happen," said Jhoan Daniel Barrios, a former military police officer from Venezuela, as he paced with two friends along the border in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, looking for a chance to seek refuge in the US.

"What are we going to do, wait until they kill us?"

Republicans are seizing the opportunity to decry Biden for failing to control the border.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas told reporters in Brownsville there were 22,000 people camping just on the other side of the frontier from this southernmost Texas city alone.

"This was a decision that was made by President Joe Biden and (Vice President) Kamala Harris and congressional Democrats to open up the border to what is nothing less than an invasion," he said.

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas told Fox News the border situation was a "disaster".

"The number one threat to our national security is right here in southern Texas, all the way to Arizona," he said.

Democratic congressman Mike Levin of California accused Republicans of playing "political football" with the country's broken immigration system.

Agencies contributed to this story.