Border Patrol clears way for more migrant releases to city streets, sources say: 'The dam is about to break'

Tens of thousands of migrants are expected to surge into the United States as Title 42 expires on May 11

The Title 42 policy, which allows for the immediate expulsion of irregular migrants entering the country, is coming to an end. 
(Christian Torres Chavez/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

FOX News Live
By Bill Melugin , Chris Pandolfo, Fox News
Published May 9, 2023 8:57am EDT

Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins reports on the latest mass migration preparation amid possible surge in migrants with end of Title 42 approaching on 'Special Report.'

The Biden administration's top border officials in Washington, D.C., have decided to authorize all Border Patrol sectors to begin "safe" mass releases of migrants to city streets if non-governmental organizations don't have the capacity to hold them, multiple sources tell Fox News.

The consequence of this decision is that migrants will be mass released at bus stops, gas stations, supermarkets and in towns and cities across the border as Customs and Border Protection facilities are already over capacity in multiple sectors, according to CBP sources who were not authorized to speak publicly. 

NGOs are quickly approaching their limits to house migrants and tens of thousands more migrants are expected to surge into the United States once the Title 42 public health order is lifted on May 11.

The mass releases will only happen if NGOs run out of space, but officials believe that is likely.

"The dam is about to break," one border patrol source said. 

Title 42 has been used since 2020 to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants quickly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, nearly half of all migrant encounters ended in a Title 42 expulsion.

Migrants who recently crossed the border between the U.S. and Mexico are seen in Brownsville, Texas, Friday, May 5, 2023.  
(AP Photo/Veronica G. Cardenas)

The order’s end is expected to bring an enormous number of migrants to the border, who believe they have a greater chance of being admitted into the U.S. once the order ends. The Biden administration has said that is not true, and has warned that it is stiffening penalties for illegal entry while urging migrants to use expanded legal pathways instead.

Footage captured by Fox News' Flight Team showed hundreds of migrants streaming across the border into Brownsville, Texas from Matamoros, Mexico last week. Agents are encountering migrants at a rate of 2,000 a day in Brownsville. CBP sources have said in the first four days of May they have been encountering more than 8,000 migrants a day border-wide.

The Biden administration has been scrambling to implement measures to reduce the number of illegal crossings and establish a more orderly process. The administration also announced this week that it is sending 1,500 troops to the border, although officials have said they won’t be engaging with migrants but acting in a supporting role to Customs and Border Protection.

It has also proposed a new asylum rule intended to bar migrants from claiming asylum if they cross the border illegally and have also failed to claim asylum in a country through which they have already passed. Additionally, the U.S. is partnering with Latin American governments to expand legal pathways with migrant processing centers being established throughout South and Central America. 

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Fox News' Adam Shaw and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.