(TheConservativeTimes.org) – As a surge of immigrants presses against the U.S. border with Mexico, the Department of Homeland Security now requires asylum officers to work overtime.
That surge is coming because a COVID-era rule, Title 42, expired on May 11. Title 42 was signed by President Donald Trump in 2020. It allows the rapid expulsion of immigrant applicants at the border on public health grounds.
Both former President Trump and President Joe Biden have used Title 42 to expel a combined 2.8 million would-be immigrants and asylum seekers in the past three years.
According to a memo obtained by Fox News from the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), border and asylum agents were told on May 11 they would be required to work at least one day in the upcoming weekend.
That order was quickly followed up by a statement from USCIS associate director Ted Kim requiring staff to work both weekend days. The only employees exempt from the weekend and overtime orders are those who are not involved in determining if a migrant’s asylum claim is based on a “credible fear” of persecution or injury in their home country.
Border cities such as El Paso, Texas, have been warning state and federal officials that thousands more migrants than usual have been lining up at the border. Some were camping out awaiting Title 42’s expiration, just as border city and state officials predicted would happen.
On May 11, the day Title 42 expired, border officials in El Paso rounded up 1,800 immigrants attempting to enter the United States.
DHS Secretary Alexander Mayorkas has been pleading with immigrants not to believe that Title 42’s expiration means they will be able to sail across the border with few problems. That message has made little to no difference.
Mayorkas says the U.S. has other legal means to stop the overflow of illegal immigration and that the government will use these measures.
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