Preparations underway for lifting of Title 42

EL PASO, Texas - El Paso government and social services are bracing for a  surge of migrants once Title 42 is permitted to expire.

Title 42 is a CDC health order giving Customs and Border Protection officers and Border Patrol agents the power to expel migrants without processing them if they believe they are infected with Covid 19.

ABC-7 spoke with El Paso county judge Ricardo Samaniego, who meets weekly with other agencies preparing for that surge.

"Because we're already experiencing spikes and people coming, we're sort of chipping away at the number of people that are gonna come across after May the 23rd," said judge Samaniego.

May 23 is the target date for the lifting of Title 42.

Border Patrol, hospitality shelters and governmental agencies say the number of migrants coming to our borders is already increasing.

But Samaniego says preparations to meet a potential wave are already underway with meetings between nongovernmental agencies like Annunciation house, Customs and Border Protection and both the city and county.

The County Judge says those meetings are similar to meetings held by the same agencies before another key milestone, which was expected to trigger a surge from Mexico.

That was the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, which officials expected would trigger an influx of Mexican nationals crossing into the U.S. to buy goods.

"One of the major challenges is volunteers. We don't have the volunteers that we used to have. Many of them died, unfortunately in the pandemic. Most of them are afraid because they're over the age of 60 and are concerned ." said Judge Samaniego.