To prepare for the expected influx of migrants following the ending of Title 42, Border Patrol had set up a tent larger than a football field in El Paso, a Texas border town.
On Tuesday (December 27), the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, ruled to keep Title 42 in effect until oral arguments are made in February 2023, With SCOTUS expected to make a final decision in June 2024.
However, Title 42 wasn’t intended to be a permanent policy, with the tent in El Paso symbolizing the ramifications of the policy’s end, which a Washington, D.C., federal judge ordered to end on December 21.
But SCOTUS overturned that ruling after state attorney generals from 19 GOP-led states challenged the verdict.
With the December 21 deadline drawing near, border officials were preparing to deal with an anticipated 5,000 migrants coming through El Paso per day.
On Friday, before the SCOTUS ruling, El Paso Democrat Mayor Oscar Leeser asserted that “it’s going to get worse before it even gets better,” noting that this was what the city was preparing for by setting up the tent.
Also on Friday, El Paso Deputy City Manager Mario D’Agostino explained that the border patrol CPC has a 1,400 capacity, which would be broken by the 5,000 anticipated migrants expected to cross when Title 42 ends.
Officials had also revealed that approximately 20,000 migrants were waiting in Mexico for the Trump-era policy to end.
The Texas National Guard had also reinforced the borders with shipping containers, with the Texas Military Department adding three rows of concertina razor wire in anticipation of the influx.
