US says it is facing biggest migrant surges in 20 years

Biden administration official says US is expelling migrant families and single adults to keep country safe amid pandemic

The United States is on pace to face more immigrants arriving at its southern border with Mexico than in 20 years, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Tuesday. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the number of arrivals has been on a steady rise since April 2020, and that the majority of migrant families and single adults are being turned away. “We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years,” Mayorkas said in a statement adding that the majority of arrivals are being expelled under Title 42, a Trump-era provision that cites the pandemic as the basis to allow the swift expulsion of asylum seekers.