Around 12,400 migrants could be allowed to remain in the U.S., Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a White House press conference on Friday.
Border officials relied on Title 42, a Trump-era public health order implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to expel most migrants from the U.S., according to Mayorkas. Migrants who needed immediate medical attention or who feared torture if they were returned to their home country weren’t subject to removal.
“Approximately 12,400 will havecases heard by an immigrationjudge to make a determination on whether they’ll be removed orpermitted to remain in theUnited States,” Mayorkas said. If someone is not subject to title42 expulsion for the threereasons that I explained, acutevulnerability, operationalcapacity limitations, or aconvention against tortureexception, then the individualis placed in immigrationproceedings.
The migrants who aren’t expelled under Title 42 will appear before an immigration judge where their claims are adjudicated, according to Mayorkas. If the migrant doesn’t have a valid claim to remain in the U.S. they will be expelled.
“An estimated 8,000 migrants havedecided to return to Mexicovoluntarily,” Mayorkas said. “And just over 5,000 are beingprocessed by DHS to determinewhether they will be expelled orplaced in immigration removalproceedings under Title 8.”
Immigration officials cleared all 15,000 migrants from the temporary encampment set up near Del Rio, Texas, as of Friday morning, according to Mayorkas. Border officials were overwhelmed by the thousands of migrants, mostly from Haiti, who showed up under the international bridge to request asylum in the U.S.
Around 600 Customs and Border Protection officials and DHS volunteers were deployed to the area to help with processing, Mayorkas said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were responsible for transporting migrants to other Border Patrol sites for processing and to airports for expulsion back to Haiti.
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