Tijuana, May 5. – In light of the revocation of Title 42 in the coming days—which allowed for the immediate expulsion of any undocumented migrant to the country of last transit—and the possibility of facing mass border crossing attempts, U.S. security agencies today conducted a drill for an immediate border closure at the San Ysidro International Port. The drill was coordinated by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Vehicle lanes 28 through 34—out of a total of 50 at the checkpoint—were closed for 10 minutes, during which agents conducted border deployment and closure exercises with the support of mobile walls and tear gas. The goal of these exercises is to be able to do this as quickly as possible.
Order
On March 20, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an executive order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 that allowed authorities to immediately expel migrants at U.S. land borders, known as Title 42. This allowed CBP to expel detained migrants without having to detain and process them.
CDC
On April 1, the CDC deemed the measure no longer necessary given changing health conditions, and it will expire on May 11. Authorities in the neighboring country appear to have reason to fear the arrival of a greater number of migrants, as groups of varying sizes have been gathering along the border wall in recent days.
