>>> Now to the growing crisis at
the border and the clock is
ticking.
The Biden administration has
less than four hours thousand to
respond to an emergency appeal
by republican-led states to
extend title 42.
That is the trump-era policy
that's been used to quickly
expel migrants at the southern
border because of pandemic
health concerns.
It's due to expire tomorrow but
chief justice John Roberts put
that on hold.
Texas now has deployed the
National Guard to the border
ahead of what is expected to be
a growing surge of migrants if
title 42 is lifted.
CNN's Ed lavendera is in el
Paso.
How tense is the situation there
right now?
>> Reporter: Well, it's kind of
a lull before figuring out what
exactly will happen with title
42.
The surge that we've spent so
much time talking about in the
last week has really started to
go away.
So now all of the focus really
is on the anticipation of what
the possible surge if title 42
is lifted tomorrow.
So everyone here awaiting the
courts but city and county
officials say the -- federal
border agency is saying they'll
moving ahead as if it's lifted
tomorrow doing all the
preparation that needs to be
done. County and local officials are
saying they are focused on
building shelter space which
includes possible warehouses and
unused school buildings to house
the influx of migrants that
could be coming here through the
El Paso area as wells building
up obviously the food and
medical systems that would be
needed to support all of that.
So that's their main concern.
But, Ana, today we're also
seeing where the politics of
border security is really taking
over. This morning in the early
morning hours before sunrise
Texas National Guard soldiers in
the area where migrants have
been crossing in the last week
put up nearly a mile long fence
covered in razor wire.
This is really much to the
consternation of local officials
who are extremely frustrated
that this is by the admission of
the Texas military department
not done in coordination with
the border patrol agents as well
as local officials, one
county -- the county judge in el
Paso says this is not their
responsibility and it wasn't
really the expectation that city
and county officials here had
when they declared a state of
emergency and some 400 national
Guard members were brought in.
This is not the kind of support
that they were expecting.
They thought they were going to
get more help with the housing
and food and transportation kind
of concerns that many officials
here in El Paso have so clearly
the politics of border security
really kind of the news of the
day in El Paso today.
>> Ed lavendera at the southern
border, thanks.
>>> Let's bring in Ron batello
in the trump administration, the
former Cheever of the U.S.
Border patrol.
Given all the hats you've worn
you know the reality on the
ground.
What's your assessment of what's
happening now?
>> Well, the border patrol, my
former colleagues at dhs are up
against it.
The single largest surge on the
southwest border that's ever
occurred in the history of that
border, between 6,000 and 8,000
people are coming across every
24 hours.
Now with the end of title 42
they're talking numbers above
14,000 in 24 hours.
The system is already
overwhelmed.
All the facilities, the work
stations, the work flow, the
border patrol has been up
against it for the last two
years.
We've never seen anything like
this and this title 42 was also
based on conditions as it
relates to covid.
But what it's doing now, it's
sort of a stopgap.
They can expel people quickly.
They can handle that process in
less than a half hour.
Once they have to enroll
everybody into immigration
docket that will take up to
three hours so add to the
increasing overburdened border
patrol now you'll have more
traffic, they're going to have
more to do with essentially the
same amount of resources.
They've been up against it for
the last two years.
>> What we understand the plan
is, as we know it by the Biden
administration.
They say their surging resources
to the border and includes ten
soft-sided facilities and
legally cracking down on repeat
offenses.
Is this a good start?
>> Well, they have to do more,
right?
This is -- this surge if you
want to talk about where the
root causes are, they removed
policies keeping the surge at
bay. The last surge was ended with
the migrant protection
protocols.
This administration tore those
tools down their first day in
office and we've had this -- the
results of this surge are quite
evident, right, that we had a
process in place.
Had this president took over
40-year lows in activity.
>> That was because of covid.
That was because of covid.
I mean, let's be honest.
Let's be honest.
There was a major surge during
the trump administration which
resulted in the family
separations while you worked
under trump.
That didn't deter people from
coming so if family separations
doesn't work as a deterrent
because of what's happening back
home in the home countries of a
lot of these people, these
migrants, then what would?
What would be an option for this
administration to deter these
migrants?
>> Well, they inherited a
program called the migrant
protection protocols which led
to 40-year lows in activity.
It wasn't just because of covid.
Title 42 helped in reducing the
traffic but the last surge was
ended because of that program.
The asylum accords with the
northern triangle and protocols
gave us 40-year lows in
activity.
When you tore those tools down
and got rid of them you now have
the largest surge ever.
>> Has been a
multiadministration problem
going back to the bush years.
The U.S. Has pursued largely a
border policy focused on
enforcement. What to do once people cross the
border, right, but not providing
the larger solution.
Systemic reform.
That's on congress but if
congress is unwilling to act on
comprehensive immigration
reform, what do you see as the
options?
>> Well, the administration had
options when they took over.
They just refused to use what
was working.
>> But those are temporary.
>> A surge has ended in only two
way, detain people until they
have their hearing or let them
wait in Mexico for those
hearings.
That stopped the last surge and
would end this if they
implemented it fully.
They refuse to do that because
they prefer this chaos.
>> I'm not so sure that is
accurate.
I don't think that is true what
you have suggested.
Nobody prefers this chaos.
There are elements that the
trump administration enacted
that is since been confirmed
illegal by courts and have had
to be --
>> Protocols for not -- the
migrant protection protocols
were not illegal.
That's in U.S. Code.
They could end this surge by
fully implementing it again.
They refuse to do it so what is
the reason?
Apparently they believe in an
open border and not a controlled
border because that's what we
got. >> Again, I don't think that's
fair. I will say our understanding
based on CNN's reporting it's
something they are considering
trying to continue to do, that
it was something -- a tool
useful and had some effect but
if you can't stop the push
factors that are coming from
those countries where it's so
dangerous it's so financially
difficult for people to survive
in those countries you're not
going to stop them from coming.
>> You're not going to stop them
if you -- we're not going to
stop it if we don't enforce the
border.
There's no question in my mind,
if there is a consequence for
them coming in illegally we'll
get less of that.
That's what happened in my 30
plus year career.
That's what we did.
Impose a consequence and lots of
people stay home.
That's not what's happening
here.
Many are not being encount
determined by law enforcement
and many people arrested are
released in the country which is
their end game.
Many will never go to
immigration court.
They will follow never on their
asylum claims because --
>> Based on what?
No, no, the vast majority taken
into the system do follow up in
their court hearings based on
data from research that we
discussed previously under past
surges, but when you talk about
these people coming across and
not having any encounters with
law enforcement, that's simply
untrue.
We know there's already 2
million encounters in the past
fiscal year under this current
administration.
Yes, those numbers are very high
but clearly they're making those
stops.
They're encountering those
people who are crossing and many
perhaps many of these people
have legal asylum claims to make
and so that's why there is a
process in the U.S. For
adjudicating those specific
cases, but as you know, that can
take years, so if you don't make
an assessment on who to release
like families, children, what do
you expect to do with those
people otherwise as they're
awaiting cases to be
adjudicated?
Who would they live.
>> They can stop the surge.
Two ways to do it.
Increase the detention resources
or migrant protection protocols.
Those bot worked in the previous
obama/biden administration and
trump administration.
They refuse to do it and so
we're left to wonder why.
Obviously they don't really care