United States | Bordering on chaos

The Title 42 furore highlights America’s broken immigration system

Whatever happens to the public-health rule, America will have to grapple with a surge in migration

ROMA, TEXAS - APRIL 14: A Honduran mother and son, 3, stand on the bank of the Rio Grande after rafting across the border from Mexico on April 14, 2021 in Roma, Texas. A surge of mostly Central American immigrants crossing into the United States, including record numbers of children, has challenged U.S. immigration agencies along the U.S. southern border. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

May 22nd 2022|McAllen, Texas

When your rivals start offering their sympathies, you know you’re in trouble. Recently, this has been happening to Henry Cuellar, a Democratic congressman representing Laredo in south Texas, because of the Biden administration’s move to end “Title 42”, a border-management tool. “I’ve talked to a lot of Republicans, and they said, ‘We cannot believe, Henry, that the White House has given us our narrative’,” he says. (Mr Cuellar was in a tough primary election on May 24th, with border policy an animating issue.) The White House’s hope of lifting Title 42 from May 23rd played into the idea that Democrats are stoking disorder at the border.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Bordering on chaos”