TEXAS, USA — Those who come to the border for asylum may find themselves out of luck. Immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said she has seen it with a single mother and her child.
"She and her daughter were turned away at the border for seeking asylum, and they were kidnapped by cartels, but the little girl who was only eight escaped," she said. "She made it across the border alone and thought her mother was dead."
And she said this story is far from uncommon.
“I worked with an organization that represented over 900 families who were impacted by Title 42 last year, and almost 50% of them had been subject to kidnapping or attempted kidnapping,” said Lincoln-Goldfinch.
So she’s happy Title 42 is ending, but she knows it won’t be easy.
“So I think we’re going to see this period of time where there’s a lot of asylum seekers, and the system doesn’t know or can’t handle them,” she said.
Not everyone believes Title 42 should end.
Sen. John Cornyn joined a bipartisan bill that would stop Title 42 from being lifted until COVID-related national emergencies are lifted. While he wasn’t available for interview, he sent a statement reading in part, “If Title 42 is eliminated, the border patrol tell me they will lose control, and the drug cartels stand to benefit the most.”
This fiscal year, the number of migrants coming to the southwest border is increasing. In January of 2021, there were 78,414 migrants and, this year, there were 154,745 migrants. That’s almost double.
But the end of Title 42 doesn’t mean everyone can just come into the country.
“My only concern is that now that Title 42 will end, it will mean that the administration will lean more into MPP,” said Allen Morris with RAICES.
MPP is the migrant protection protocol, a policy that makes migrants wait in Mexico while they wait for their asylum hearings. Title 42 is scheduled to end on May 23.
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