No more hoisting immigration woes on COVID - The end of Title 42

Remember the hysteria over Y2K

- Mary Sanchez

Media, admittedly, was complicit then, as it is now.

In 1999, there was mass concern and news stories galore on how the world as we knew it would implode when computer systems would falter, unable to manage a shift to the year 2000 because of a coding glitch.

That frenzy sounds a bit daft now. But on Dec. 31, 1999, the clock ticked down, and people held their breath, some from bomb shelter-like crevices they’d stocked with canned goods. Some families crawled into them and held tight.

Watching what didn’t happen along the U.S.-Mexico border is reminiscent of that Y2K miscalculation.

Title 42, a pandemic-era policy, ended at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on May 11.

The Trump administration originated it. The rule allowed U.S. border agents to quickly expel migrants from the U.S. in order to stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Yet there were no legal consequences for the migrants, so this set off a scramble for many to re-enter.

The Biden administration found the policy useful too, in lieu of meaningful immigration reform.

That set off a New Year’s Eve-style countdown at various ports of entry across the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico, with everyone camping out and preparing as the clock wound down.

In recent weeks, the ranks of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents were increased to 24,000. About 1,500 active duty military were sent to help out, as well as thousands of private contractors who were employed to assist in the predicted chaos.

Those who like to exploit anything that has to do with desperate migrants (especially if the latter are brown in skin color) took their seats, warning that a massive surge of unwashed refuse from other nations would advance through our “open border.” That seems apocalyptic, but many interpretations of the migrants are that crass in tone.