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El Paso could soon face migrant surge, shelter boss warns ahead of potential Title 42 end

EL PASO — The sixth-largest city in Texas is on the precipice of being overwhelmed by migrants and asylum-seekers as the Biden administration prepares to lift the Title 42 health authority that has allowed the summary expulsions of millions of border-crossers, the head of a system of immigrant shelters told The Post on Wednesday.

Ruben Garcia, the director of Annunciation House and its network of 15 shelters in the area, said his facilities were already stretched to their limit by Sunday, when 118 immigrants were released by the federal government to a downtown bus depot due to lack of space.

If Title 42 goes away as scheduled May 23, Garcia warned, such releases will become a regular occurrence.

“It is the responsibility of the federal government to plan for the lifting of Title 42,” he said. “I have absolutely no doubt that if Title 42 is lifted, you’re going to see many individuals will be released to the streets.”

Republicans and Democrats alike have warned that a “surge” of illegal immigration would accompany the end of Title 42. However, the government’s own data suggests a surge is already happening.

This week, the Department of Homeland Security revealed that 234,088 migrants had been stopped at the US-Mexico border in April — the most in the department’s history. Almost 30,000 of those encounters were recorded by Border Patrol agents in the El Paso sector, making it the third-busiest enforcement area along the frontier.

The Republican attorneys general of Texas and 23 other states are suing to block the lifting of Title 42, which authorities estimate has been used to remove 1.7 million immigrants without hearing their asylum claims since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The states have argued that they are not equipped to handle the possible 18,000 immigrants who could come to the border each day once Title 42 is removed. (Border authorities averaged around 7,800 encounters per day in the record-setting month of April.)

Asylum-seeking migrants walking towards El Paso to turn themselves in to Border Patrol on May 17, 2022. Go Nakamura for New York Post
The lifting of the Title 42 health authority is expected to lead to a surge of migrants seeking asylum at the border. Go Nakamura for New York Post

A Louisiana federal judge is expected to rule on the future of the authority before May 23, but he’s already hinted he will keep Title 42 in place.

“I am concerned that if Title 42 is lifted, people will be pointing fingers to each other,” said Garcia, who argued the Biden administration should set up a shelter where asylum-seekers, often families with small children, can stay for a night or two before moving on to their final destination. He revealed that federal officials had recently traveled to El Paso to scout possible locations to house migrants ahead of the expected wave.

Garcia has his own suggestion: repurposing a shelter that was used for Afghan refugees at El Paso’s Fort Bliss Army post.

Asylum-seeking migrants entering Annunciation House in El Paso after being dropped of by US Customs and Border Protection agents on May 18, 2022. Go Nakamura for New York Post
Migrants resting at the Annunciation House shelter after arriving in El Paso. Go Nakamura for New York Post

According to the shelter operator, 99% of asylum-seekers eventually travel from the border to other parts of the United States, where they have family or other sponsors waiting to back up their case.

Garcia also called on city and county officials to establish a shelter of their own — though El Paso County is already providing two dozen volunteers who will help him take in more immigrants.

El Paso County is also providing COVID-19 testing for all immigrants and paying for a quarantine hotel for those who test positive. Meanwhile, city buses are used to ferry immigrants from the shelters to the El Paso airport

Children playing at the shelter in El Paso. Go Nakamura for New York Post
A pregnant asylum-seeking migrant on a bed at Annunciation House. Go Nakamura for New York Post

Neither city nor county officials immediately responded to The Post’s request for comment.

Garcia said that no single entity can solve the migrant crisis, but “we should not use that as a reason to not do what we can do.”

“I’m hoping the federal government will rise to the occasion.”

While The Post was at one of Garcia’s shelters, two more busloads of migrants arrived and about 60 border-crossers joined those already housed there.

Garcia warned that many migrants will be released to the streets once Title 42 is lifted. Go Nakamura for New York Post

One of the new arrivals was 51-year-old Rosario from Mexico, who is heading to New York to join her son in Queens.

“I don’t know anything about that,” she said when asked what she thought of Title 42. “I came here because I was threatened to be robbed so many times.

“I couldn’t make a living. I didn’t know if I’d be safe.”