Texas ‘Already Being Overrun With Illegal Aliens’ as Title 42 Expires: Sen. Ted Cruz

Border Patrol agents have apprehend record numbers of border crossers

A Texas National Guard soldier bars journalists from approaching migrants who crossed over from Mexico in El Paso, Texas, on May 9, 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 10,000 illegal immigrants per day on May 8 and May 9—the highest daily totals on record—as law enforcement and border agents prepared for the expiration of Title 42 on May 11.

Migrants have been flocking to the southern border in recent weeks as the policy neared expiration. Drone footage captured on May 8 by Fox Flight Team showed long lines of migrants camping out just across the U.S. border near El Paso and Brownsville, Texas.

“Texas is already being overrun with illegal aliens ahead of Title 42’s expiration. The Lone Star State—and the rest of the country—will pay dearly for Biden’s open border policy decision,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wrote on Twitter on May 10.

With the expiration of the public health policy, migrants will be processed under Title 8 immigration law, which is a lengthy procedure allowing illegal immigrants to seek asylum.

Title 42’s health policy allowed officials to quickly expel migrants who entered the United States illegally. Unaccompanied children were exempt from the policy. Since March 2020, the policy has been used more than 2.8 million times to expel migrants.

In addition to the 2,500 National Guard troops already positioned across the southern border, the Biden administration said it would send another 1,500 troops for the expected surge of border crossings.

“These personnel will be performing administrative tasks, like data entry, and warehouse support,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on May 2.

“They will not be performing law enforcement functions or interacting with immigrants or migrants. This will free up border agents to perform their critical law enforcement duties,” she said.

The troops will be deployed for 90 days, according to the White House.

Video captured by journalist Todd Bensman on May 10 showed DPS troopers and Texas National Guard soldiers physically blocking migrants trying to cross into Texas as razor wire was being placed along border hot spots.

“Great work by Texas National Guard and Texas DPS,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Abbott wrote in a Twitter post sharing the video. “Biden sent 1,500 troops to the border to do paperwork. Texas deployed trained soldiers and troopers to take real action and respond to this crisis.”

Texas Tactical Border Force Deployed

Abbott announced the deployment of the new Texas Tactical Border Force just ahead of the expiration of the health policy that turned back millions of illegal immigrants over the last three years.

“The Texas National Guard is loading Blackhawk helicopters and C-130s and deploying specially trained soldiers for the Texas Tactical Border Force, who will be deployed to hotspots all along the border to help intercept and repel large groups of migrants trying to enter Texas illegally,” Abbott said in a press release on May 8.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has also deployed additional support to the border.

“The Texas Department of Public Safety is increasing resources at the border, and we are deploying hundreds of troopers around the state, including enhanced tactical teams and field force operations teams, to hold the line,” DPS Director Steve McCraw said in a statement.

Texas and Mexico share 1,254 miles of common border with more than two dozen legal ports of entry where migrants can apply for lawful admission into the United States.

“There are 29 places you can cross into the U.S. legally, and our job is to ensure we hold that line and keep those the only places these people can cross,” McCraw continued.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has estimated that border agents could encounter as many as 13,000 migrants per day following Title 42’s expiration.

Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas (2nd L) speaks at a press conference in Brownsville, Texas, on May 5, 2023. Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images

DHS Secretary Blames Congress

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on May 10 blamed the Republican-majority Congress for the crisis at the border, warning that the next few weeks would be “difficult” as the policy comes to an end.

“Our current situation is the outcome of Congress leaving a broken, outdated immigration system in place for over two decades, despite the agreement that we desperately need legislative reforms,” Mayorkas said.

“It is also the result of Congress’s decision not to provide us with the resources we need and that we requested.”

In late March, 11 Republican House members co-signed a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Dave Royce (R-Ohio) that Mayorkas’ paycheck be withheld over his alleged failure to stem the border crisis, The Epoch Times reported.

Mayorkas maintains the border is secure.

“Lifting of the Title 42 public health order does not mean our border is open,” he said, adding that the use of immigration enforcement under Title 8 “means tougher consequences for people who crossed the border illegally.”

“Unlike under Title 42, an individual who is removed under Title 8 is subject to at least a five-year ban on re-entry into the United States and can face prosecution if they attempt to cross again,” he continued. “Smugglers have long been hard at work spreading false information that the border will be open after May 11.”

Deportations and Reentries

Thousands of illegal immigrants are expelled annually under Title 8 for criminal convictions, drug possession, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and other factors that make them inadmissible to the United States.

In fiscal year (FY) 2022, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) arrested 12,028 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions, up from 10,763 the prior ear. The fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

So far, for FY 2023, more than 5,100 have been arrested for prior convictions. Thousands of those arrested for removal have been deported multiple times.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations apprehended nearly 44,000 “noncitizens” with criminal histories during FY 2022. This group had a total of 198,498 charges and convictions, according to the ICE Fiscal Year Annual Report (pdf).

Reentering the country after expulsion is an “aggravated felony” under immigration law and brings severe penalties.

Still, many illegal immigrants who have been expelled reenter the country despite the law.

In late April, an illegal immigrant allegedly shot and killed five of his neighbors—including a 9-year-old boy—in Cleveland, Texas. He was arrested after a four-day manhunt.

The suspect, Francisco Oropesa, 38, a Mexican national, had been in the country illegally for years and had been deported at least four times before the shooting, most recently in 2016, a spokesperson for ICE told The Epoch Times.

He was taken into custody on May 2. He is charged with 5 counts of first-degree murder and is being held in the San Jacinto County jail on a $7.5 million bond—$1.5 million for each of the victims.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.