1,500 US troops to be deployed to southern border

The looming expiry of Title 42 is expected to bring an influx of migrants to the southern US border

 In preparation for an anticipated rise in migrant traffic, the US is sending 1,500 additional troops to its southern border, according to the defence department.

They will join the 2,500 National Guard personnel to assist border officers in their operations.

The government's authority to automatically expulse unauthorised migrants under Title 42, a Trump-era policy, is slated to expire on May 11.

Authorities anticipate a sudden surge in the number of migrants.

According to a US official speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, the extra military soldiers will be sent for 90 days to "supplement" the work of US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents.

The official explained that they would help with transportation, narcotics detection, data entry, and warehouse support work rather than engaging in law enforcement.

The Department of Defence claimed the additional people would close "critical capability gaps" in a statement later on.

General Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon, told the media on Tuesday that his organisation has assisted the Department of Homeland Security at the southern border for 18 of the previous 22 years and every year since 2006. General Ryder said the troops would arrive as early as May 10.

The deployment is intended to relieve border officials of some of the pressure they are under as they get ready for a big influx of migrants at the southern border.

The number of immigrants who entered the US illegally during the fiscal year 2021 was the greatest since at least 1960. That amount exceeded 2.76 million in the previous year, which is a record.

After Title 42 expires, more than 10,000 migrants are expected to cross the border every day, which is more than double the daily average in March, according to Troy Miller, the top CBP official, who testified before Congress last month.

With the claimed goal of halting the spread of the coronavirus in the US, Title 42 was first used by the US government in early 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. This provision permitted the US government to swiftly remove people attempting to cross the border with Mexico, including asylum seekers.

The Biden administration has released a proposal that would make it more difficult for migrants to request asylum by requiring adult requesters to schedule a meeting with US authorities via an app or to first request asylum in another nation before travelling to the US.

The CBP One app was launched in January and will continue to function despite Title 42.

Failure to comply would make migrants ineligible if they subsequently reach the border and allow those undocumented migrants to be swiftly deported. The plan and its expedited removal of some migrants, including asylum seekers prompted criticism from human rights groups.

Last month, the White House also announced it would set up brick-and-mortar immigration processing centres in Latin America, another effort to reduce the number of undocumented migrants crossing into the US.

The centres, with locations starting in Colombia and Guatemala, will screen migrants and determine whether they qualify for entry to the US.