Title 42 restrictions end, straining US immigration system

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Pandemic-related asylum restrictions that expelled migrants millions of times were lifted early Friday, as people raced to enter the United States before new rules announced by President Joe Biden's administration set in.

The new system aims to get asylum-seekers to stop coming across the border and start using an online system to book appointments to seek asylum at a port of entry, but many migrants weren't sure whether to trust it. Some, including children, paced along a Mexico-U.S. border strung with barbed wire and bolstered by troops, unsure of where to go or what to do next. Others settled into shelters, determined to secure an appointment that can take months.

Meanwhile, the administration was dealt a potentially serious legal setback when a federal judge temporarily blocked its attempt to release migrants more quickly when Border Patrol holding stations are full.

At Matamoros, across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, migrant families hesitated only briefly as the deadline passed and asylum restrictions shifted before entering the waters of the Rio Grande from Mexico, holding cell phones above the water to light the way toward the U.S.

U.S. authorities shouted for the migrants to turn back.

“Be careful with the children,” an official shouted through a megaphone. “It is especially dangerous for the children.”

The expired rule, known as Title 42, was in place since March 2020. It a...