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Pandemic-related asylum restrictions known as Title 42 expire, straining US immigration system

KRWG | By Associated Press
Published May 11, 2023 at 11:35 PM MDT
Migrants wait in the cold at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday, May 11, 2023. Migrants rushed across the border hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions were to expire Thursday, fearing that new policies would make it far more difficult to gain entry into the United States. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Andres Leighton/AP
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FR171260 AP
Migrants wait in the cold at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday, May 11, 2023. Migrants rushed across the border hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions were to expire Thursday, fearing that new policies would make it far more difficult to gain entry into the United States. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Pandemic-related asylum restrictions that expelled migrants millions of times have ended in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nation’s beleaguered immigration system. The change came early Friday after migrants raced to enter the United States before the new restrictions set in. 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. Misinformation and confusion buffeted migrants as they paced the border at the Rio Grande, often unsure of where to go or what to do next.
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