Biden sending 1,500 troops to Mexico border as Title 42 ends

President Biden will send 1,500 US soldiers to the US-Mexico border in anticipation of the end of Title 42, the public health policy that has allowed authorities to turn back millions of asylum seekers.

The active-duty Army units will aid Border Patrol agents in stemming the expected tide of tens of thousands of migrants at the US-Mexico border when Title 42 ends May 11. The deployment was first reported by Fox News.

The service members would be armed but only permitted to use their weapons for self-defense.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Over the last week, the Border Patrol has recorded tens of thousands of migrants crossing the southern border illegally as the policy’s enforcement period winds down.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said Monday that in the three days prior agents had made 22,220 apprehensions, including of two sex offenders, one convicted murderer, and one gang member.

Agents had also seized 806 pounds of methamphetamine, 283 pounds of marijuana, 62 pounds of cocaine, and three firearms.

More than 2 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at the southern border and returned to Mexico under the policy, which was enacted by former President Donald Trump at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Trump administration deployed more than 5,000 active-duty troops to the southern border in October 2018 to counter a migrant caravan of at least 3,500 Central American migrants traveling north.

The former president described the group at the time as an “invasion of our country.”

Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller reportedly considered a far greater troop deployment at the southern border in spring 2020, pressing the Department of Homeland Security to seal ports of entry to the US with as many as 250,000 soldiers, according to The New York Times.

Though critical of his predecessor’s immigration policy, Biden has continued to keep thousands of troops deployed at the southern border.

The president signed executive orders in February 2021 that ended Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy for prosecuting illegal border crossers, as well as another to unite parents with migrant children detained at the border.

Biden also authorized a federal review of Trump-era immigration policies.

He has reportedly been “annoyed” at Kamala Harris’ handling of the immigration crisis after he appointed his vice president border czar in the first year of his administration.

The Post revealed last week that around 40,000 migrants who intend to seek asylum in the US are gathered in Juarez, Mexico, waiting for the lifting of Title 42 to enter El Paso, Texas.