Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras Authorities Host Bi-National Meeting to Prepare for Impact on U.S.-Mexico Border the End of Title 42
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2023
The United States and Mexico hosted a bi-national meeting between Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico authorities to discuss and strategize concerning the impact of the end of Title 42 on the U.S.-Mexico border communities on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at the City of Eagle Pass International Center for Trade in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Effective May 11, 2023, Title 42 will end as a public health measure, enacted in 1944 as part of the Public Health Service Act, utilized by the United States under the Trump Administration to combat and deport undocumented immigrants entering the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The primary purpose of the bi-national meeting was to organize and prepare a unified response to the potential impact of migrants seeking to enter the United States through the Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico Port of Entry upon the termination of Title 42.
The goal of the meeting was to develop and implement policies and procedures necessary to ensure that the operations of the Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras Port of Entry are not interrupted by a potential wave of migrants seeking to cross through the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila after Title 42 expires.
Among the United States representatives present at the meeting included U. S. Customs and Border Protection Eagle Pass Acting Port of Director Pete Beattie, Eagle Pass Acting City Manager Ivan Morua, Eagle Pass International Bridge System Manager Homero Balderas, Eagle Pass Police Department Lieutenant Amy Gonzalez, Eagle Pass City Engineer Danny Magee, U. S. Border Patrol-Del Rio Sector representatives, Maverick County Sheriff’s Department representatives, CBP representatives, and other local, county, state, and federal representatives.
Among the representatives from Mexico present at the meeting included Mexican Consul General of Eagle Pass Viviana Juarez Mondragon, State of Coahuila Attorney General Gerardo Marquez Guevara, State of Coahuila Secretariat of Public Safety Sonia Villarreal Perez, General Fidel Mondragon Rivero of the 47th Military Zone, General Miguel Angel Hernandez Lopez of the Military Zone of Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico, Piedras Negras Customs Director Jorge Sanchez, and representatives from the city of Piedras Negras, State of Coahuila, and federal government.
President Joe Biden announced this week that he is sending 1,500 military troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist in administrative duties the U. S. Department of Homeland Security and its agencies such as Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol.
Border cities such as El Paso, Texas, Brownsville, Texas, and others have passed a declaration of an emergency this week to prepare their communities and law enforcement authorizes for the potential impact of a surge of migrants seeking asylum in the United States after Title 42 expires on May 11, 2023.
Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas, jr. stated that City representatives have received a full briefing from federal and state authorities on the anticipated surge of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border after May 11, 2023.
Mayor Salinas added that federal and state authorities are providing the City of Eagle Pass with resources to address any contingencies which may occur after Title 42 lapses, but the City of Eagle Pass has not yet declared an emergency such as other Texas-Mexico border cities.
According to Mexican press reports, there are between 50,000 to 100,000 migrants awaiting to cross into the United States upon the expiration of Title 42 on May 11, 2023.
