U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers once again began processing cases of certain vulnerable migrants waiting to enter the U.S. through Reynosa on Tuesday, according to the federal agency.
Currently, a public health policy implemented during the pandemic, known as Title 42, is used to bar migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S.
Some migrants, however, are exempt from the application of that policy. Those exceptions are for people who are sick, pregnant, or prosecuted in some form. Those who are determined to be eligible through a partnership between the government and nongovernmental organizations are allowed to present themselves before CBP officers at a port of entry for processing.
Several ports of entry are part of that process, including the McAllen-Hidalgo international bridge. But on Thursday CBP officers notified their NGOs partners that they would be halting the exceptions.
CBP did not provide a reason for the pause, nor did it offer one when it confirmed the agency had restarted the process in Hidalgo this week.
“CBP may, on a case by case basis, provide exceptions to Title 42 for particularly vulnerable individuals. Title 42 exception processing has resumed at Hidalgo Port of Entry,” a CBP official said on background.
Reynosa has the second largest population of migrants waiting to enter the U.S.; Tijuana has three times the amount estimated to be waiting in Reynosa.
