El Paso border neighborhood meeting to discuss safety concerns as Title 42 nears end

Migrants cross the Rio Grande to El Paso, Texas on March 29, 2023. The migrants had heard false rumors that they would be allowed to seek asylum in the U.S.
Omar Ornelas/ El Paso Times

El Paso Times
Daniel Borunda - El Paso Times
April 24, 2023

With the upcoming end of Title 42, concerns about a possible surge of unregulated migration crossing through El Paso neighborhoods along the border will be the topic of a Lower Valley community meeting this week.

The "Public Safety in Border Neighborhoods" meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Ysleta Pre-K Center, 7940 Craddock Ave. next to South Yarbrough Drive.

Residents along the border have been encountering migrants trespassing on their property and attempting to seek refuge in their homes, Eastridge-Mid-Valley city Rep. Henry Rivera said in a statement.

There are also worries about migrants dangerously dashing across the border highway as well as complaints about wet clothing and other trash left behind by people who crossed the Rio Grande and irrigation canals.

Rivera, a retired police officer, is hosting the meeting with officials from the El Paso Police Department, U.S. Border Patrol and the Texas Department of Public Safety, who will advise residents on how to handle such situations.

Migrants — the current wave from Venezuela and other nations — seeking political asylum will normally line up and wait along the border fence to surrender themselves to Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande into U.S. territory. But there are other undocumented migrants who seek to evade Border Patrol in the residential areas after crossing the border.

When does Title 42 end?

The use of Title 42 migrant expulsions on the Mexican border is expected to end when the national COVID-19 emergency order expires May 11.

Title 42 is a law created in 1944 that grants federal authorities the power to deny entry of people during a pandemic. The use of Title 42 was implemented by the Trump administration as a border immigration stop-measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.