Thousands of migrants travel to US border as Title 42 restrictions come to an end
Thousands of migrants have been making their way to the US border as the Title 42 immigration law changes.
The rule, which had enabled the swift expulsion of migrants, has now expired.
Amid uncertainty and misinformation surrounding how entry restrictions will change, many fear that it will make access to the US more difficult.
Migrants won’t be allowed in if they arrive at the border without first applying online, or seeking asylum in a country they passed through to reach the United States.
Anyone caught crossing the border illegally won’t be allowed to return to the US for five years and, if they do, they face criminal prosecution.
Record numbers had made their way to the US southern border in the hope of crossing before the midnight deadline.
Read more:
Why thousands of migrants are trying to cross US border
The El Paso church that has become a symbol of the broken US immigration system
Tens of thousands have made their way north through Mexico towards border crossings as the clock ran out on Title 42.
Motorists along the border are cautioned to watch for migrants attempting to cross the road
Yandel, left, has an immigration hearing set for 2027
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What is happening on the US-Mexico border?
Sky News witnessed several hundred migrants being rounded up by the border wall at El Paso in Texas by US Border Patrol guards, who escorted them onto buses to transport them to a nearby processing centre.
In recent weeks, many migrants have been left stranded. Even those arrivals who are given court dates to claim asylum are made to wait, in some cases as long as four years.
In El Paso, Sky News spoke to Yandel Makenzie, from Venezuela, who told me he had been sleeping in the street outside the Sacred Heart Church for 15 days.
Thousands of migrants have been gathering along the border
Maryeli Rivas travelled to El Paso with her two small children
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What happens after Title 42 expires?
He has been given a court date for an asylum application, but not until 2027.
“I have the papers with the court dates for 2027. The hearing with the judge is at 8.30am. What we need is bus fare so that we can get to our destination,” he said.
His friend, Wilmer Romero, also from Venezuela, said: “I want to leave already because look at the situation we’re in.
“We’re sleeping on the floor and eating whatever we can manage to get a hold of. We came to this country to progress and move forward but that’s just life, it’s the things we have to endure so that we can do something with our lives.”
Migrants attempt to cross US-Mexico border
Read more:
Biden administration proposes tougher rules at border
Maryeli Rivas travelled to El Paso with her two small children.
She said: “My journey has been a little tough because I’m alone with my children and we’ve had scary experiences. No one has helped me on my way over here, no one has tried to help me.
“On the train, a lot of things happened to me and when I arrived (in Mexico), so I decided to turn myself in and I was detained for four days. I’ve been here for a month now because I didn’t have the means to travel. It’s been tough.”
Human rights groups have criticised the new rules, saying they wrongly assume safety for migrants in countries outside the US, and efficiency of an online application system that has proved unworkable for the vast majority.
The restrictions are being introduced in tandem with other measures to encourage migrants to enter the US legally.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What happens after Title 42 expires?
This includes plans to set up US immigration centres in different countries as well as an expansion of “humanitarian parole” for 30,000 people per month from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Under the scheme, they can stay and work in the US for two years, with the support of a sponsor.
This is the highest stakes diplomacy via social media.
The American president just posted on his Truth Social platform: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers.
“Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Israel-Iran live: Trump says US knows where Iran’s supreme leader is ‘hiding’
It was followed minutes later by “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
In real-time, we are witnessing Donald Trump’s extreme version of maximum pressure diplomacy.
He’d probably call it the ‘art of the deal’, but bunker busters are the tool, and it comes with such huge consequences, intended and unintended, known and unknown.
Read more:
The bunker buster bomb which could destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Nuclear sites targeted in Iran
There is intentional ambiguity in the president’s messaging. His assumption is that he can apply his ‘art of the deal’ strategy to a deeply ideological geopolitical challenge.
It’s all playing out publicly. Overnight, the New York Times, via two of its best-sourced reporters, had been told that Mr Trump is weighing whether to use B-2 aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, Axios was reporting that a meeting is possible between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
The reporting came just as Mr Trump warned “everyone in Tehran to evacuate”. The nuclear sites being threatened with bunker busters are not in Tehran, but Trump’s words are designed to stoke tension, to confuse and to apply intense pressure.
His actions are too. He left the G7 in Canada early and asked his teams to gather in the White House Situation Room.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump: ‘I want an end, not a ceasefire’
This is a game of smoke, mirrors, brinkmanship and – maybe – bluff. In Tehran, what’s left of the leadership is watching and reading closely as they consider what’s next.
Maybe the Supreme Leader and his regime’s days are numbered. Things remain very unpredictable.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
From history, though, regime change, even when it comes with a plan – and there is certainly not one here, spells civil war and from that comes a refugee crisis.
These are truly tense and chaotic times.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
Read more from Sky News:
New episodes of The Wargame podcast released
US-UK trade deal is ‘done’, Donald Trump says
Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike