Biden Admin Preparing For ‘350,000 To 400,000’ Migrant Encounters In October

The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security is quietly preparing for a surge of “350,000 to 400,000” migrants attempting to illegally cross the southern border in October if the Title 42 COVID-19 restriction on asylum seekers is lifted this week, according to NBC News.

“On a call this week with senior Department of Homeland Security officials, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asked whether the department was prepared for a worst-case scenario in which 350,000 to 400,000 migrants cross the border in October, according to two DHS officials familiar with the conversation,” NBC News reported. “The two DHS officials stressed that the estimate is not based on internal intelligence or calculations, saying it is meant to prepare the agency for what could be an overwhelming number of migrants who cross if a court order that lifts the Covid restriction, known as Title 42, takes effect at the end of the week, as is possible.”

“U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Sept. 16 that use of Title 42, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authority implemented by the Trump administration to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in March 2020, did not give the Biden administration the authority to block asylum-seekers from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border,” the outlet added. “Sullivan said his order, which he issued in response to a lawsuit by advocacy groups, would be effective in 14 days, meaning at some point Thursday.”

The potential surge of up to 400,00 migrants would be nearly double the 21-year record broken in July, when over 210,000 migrants illegally crossed the southern border.

The report comes the same week that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) directed authorities to prioritize deporting illegal immigrants who “pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security.”

“The fact an individual is a removable noncitizen, therefore, should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote in a memo. “We will use our discretion and focus our enforcement resources in a more targeted way. Justice and our country’s well-being require it.”

The memo goes on to outline “mitigating factors” that would prevent the deportation of an illegal immigrant who had committed a crime. The factors include: “advanced or tender age; lengthy presence in the United States; a mental condition that may have contributed to the criminal conduct, or a physical or mental condition requiring care or treatment.”