{"id":34066,"date":"2023-06-08T04:06:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T04:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=34066"},"modified":"2023-07-02T07:55:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T07:55:46","slug":"title-42-didnt-result-in-a-surge-of-migration-after-all-but-border-communities-are-still-facing-record-breaking-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/title-42-didnt-result-in-a-surge-of-migration-after-all-but-border-communities-are-still-facing-record-breaking-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"Title 42 didn\u2019t result in a surge of migration, after all \u2013 but border communities are still facing record-breaking migration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lydia Renee Cleveland<\/a>, Old Dominion University<\/a><\/em>; Alexandra P Leader<\/a>, Eastern Virginia Medical School<\/a><\/em>, and Erika Frydenlund<\/a>, Old Dominion University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. government officials<\/a> and media alike made widespread predictions<\/a> that there would be a surge of migration across the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when the U.S. lifted an emergency health policy called Title 42<\/a> that allowed the government to turn away migrants at the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Title 42 ended in May 2023<\/a>, but the number of migrants crossing into the border city of El Paso<\/a> has actually decreased since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even without a recent surge related to Title 42, however, migration across the U.S-Mexico border continues to trend upward and remains at record-breaking levels<\/a>. Compared with the 16,182 migrants that U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered in April 2020, there were 206,239 encounters in November 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past four years, we have researched host communities<\/a> around the world that receive sudden arrivals of a large group of migrants<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In El Paso, Texas, our interviews with government agencies, migrant aid organizations and residents in 2019 and 2022 highlighted what the U.S. southern border region shares with other migrant host communities facing unprecedented levels of migration<\/a> and displacement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People<\/a>
Border Patrol agents search immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, shortly after Title 42 ended in May 2023. John Moore\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Borderlands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Communities along the U.S.-Mexico border \u2013 sometimes called the Borderlands \u2013 have a long history serving as a corridor for migration<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Paso even carries a name that is rooted in migration, coming from \u201cel paso del norte,\u201d which means \u201cthe passage to the north\u201d in Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Paso and Juarez, Mexico, are divided only by the Rio Grande River<\/a> and a border wall<\/a>. They were once united as one city until international boundaries were drawn in 1848<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the weeks leading up to the end<\/a> of Title 42, an estimated 35,000 migrants were waiting in Juarez to cross<\/a> into El Paso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Border Patrol agents generally work to monitor and manage<\/a> goods and migration across the country\u2019s border. They are also the ones who apprehend migrants and document their names and other personal information when they enter the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, when U.S. border officials apprehend migrants crossing the border without documentation, they place them in detention centers. There, people can apply for asylum and await court dates to see if they qualify to stay in the U.S. \u2013 or they are deported back across the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some cases, when there is a surge in migration, these detention centers \u2013 run by both the government and private companies \u2013 get full. So U.S. border officials sometimes release migrants into local communities<\/a> to await future court dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Border Patrol released over 13,000 migrants<\/a> into El Paso in May 2023. About half of those migrants arrived after Title 42 ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That number of migrants is similar to trends seen in recent years, and below several peaks in 2022. At the end of last year, El Paso received more than 10,000 migrants in one week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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