On Thursday afternoon, several hours before the official end of Title 42 at 10:59 p.m. Central Standard Time, no one seemed to know quite what to expect with the policy’s end, this despite many predictions of a massive surge of migrants poised to overwhelm authorities at the Brownsville port-of-entry and other crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.
A group of migrants enter Brownsville Wednesday, May 10, 2023, from Matamoros, Mexico, as they walk to a makeshift check-in center at the former Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course, where migrants are transported by bus and processed by U.S. Border Patrol at a separate facility. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)Many migrants are seen at the Brownsville bus station in downtown Thursday, May 11, 2023, as they wait to board their bus and arrive to their final destination. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)Migrants are taken on a bus from a makeshift check-in center at the former Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course in Brownsville Wednesday, May 10, 2023, and will be transported and processed by U.S. Border Patrol at a separate facility. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)Migrants wait to board a bus from a makeshift check-in center at the former Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course in Brownsville Thursday, May 11, 2023, and will be transported and processed by U.S. Border Patrol at a separate facility as Title 42 comes to an end. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)Many migrants are seen at the Brownsville bus station in downtown Thursday, May 11, 2023, as they wait to board their bus and arrive to their final destination. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)Migrants wait to board their bus in downtown Brownsville, Texas to arrive at their final destination in the United States Thursday, May 11, 2023, as Title 42 comes to an end. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)Many migrants wait inside the La Plaza Brownsville Bus Station Thursday, May 11, 2023, to board their bus and arrive to their final destination in the United States as Title 42 comes to an end. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)United States Senator Ted Cruz visits a migrant processing facility in Brownsville, Texas near the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley hours before Title 42 comes to an end Thursday, May 11, 2023, during a press conference as Senator Cruz speaks about the border crisis unfolding along the Southern border. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)United States Senator Ted Cruz visits a migrant processing facility in Brownsville, Texas near the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley hours before Title 42 comes to an end Thursday, May 11, 2023, during a press conference as Senator Cruz speaks about the border crisis unfolding along the Southern border. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)United States Senator Ted Cruz visits a migrant processing facility in Brownsville, Texas near the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley hours before Title 42 comes to an end Thursday, May 11, 2023, during a press conference as Senator Cruz speaks about the border crisis unfolding along the Southern border. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)
ON THE GROUND IN McALLEN
In McAllen, Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley has already seen a substantial uptick in the number of migrants arriving at the Humanitarian Respite Center downtown.
Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, speaks with a gaggle of press at the Humanitarian Respite Center in downtown McAllen just hours before the end of Title 42 on Thursday, May 11, 2023. (Dina Arévalo | [email protected])Emiliana Godoy, right, and her three children, all of Guatemala, recite a prayer before the portrait of the Virgin Mary at the Humanitarian Respite Center in downtown McAllen on Thursday, May 11, 2023. (Dina Arévalo | [email protected])Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, speaks with a gaggle of press at the Humanitarian Respite Center in downtown McAllen just hours before the end of Title 42 on Thursday, May 11, 2023. (Dina Arévalo | [email protected])Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, speaks with a pair of brothers from Nigeria at the Humanitarian Respite Center in downtown McAllen just hours before the end of Title 42 on Thursday, May 11, 2023. (Dina Arévalo | [email protected])A Bible on display at the Humanitarian Respite Center in downtown McAllen lies open to Psalm 46, which reads, in part, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Dina Arévalo | [email protected])
