Federal officials recently drafted a plan to release thousands of illegal aliens onto streets across the border in Mexico if non-governmental organization (NGO) shelters and federal holding facilities become overrun after Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allowed rapid deportations, expires this Thursday.
In the coming days, one could expect to witness “mass releases of migrants at bus stops, gas stations, supermarkets etc in communities across the border as illegal crossings continue to surge to record highs ahead of [Title 42 ending],” according to Fox News LA national correspondent Bill Melugin, who cited unnamed sources.
This means in coming days we will likely begin to see mass releases of migrants at bus stops, gas stations, supermarkets etc in communities across the border as illegal crossings continue to surge to record highs ahead of T42 drop in 2 days.
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 9, 2023
However, in what may be an effort to avoid deportation, much of the illegal migrant population living in homeless encampments lining streets of El Paso, Texas cleared out by the morning of May 9 after CBP officials leaked the agency’s own plan to send migrants back to Mexico.
On May 8, CBP published a press release confirming the previously confidential plans to “conduct a targeted operation” in El Paso to process individuals for vetting and placement into one of several removal proceedings.
“As we have said repeatedly, individuals who do not have a lawful basis to remain will be removed,” acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said in the release. “Individuals should not listen to the lies of smugglers and instead use lawful pathways to protection.”
CBP agents are reportedly embittered over the agency tipping off illegal aliens of their enforcement plans, providing the opportunity for migrants to flee and disappear into the U.S.
“I continue to hear from frustrated Border Patrol & ICE contacts who are in disbelief that DHS/CBP announced in a press release last night that they were going to run an enforcement operation in El Paso today targeting gotaways/evaders camping on streets,” Melugin wrote in another Twitter post.
“They tell me you announce the RESULTS of an enforcement operation in a press release, not the PLAN. Our team on the ground in El Paso tell[s] me much of the migrant population cleared out before the operation this morning, after the press release went out,” Melugin added.
