White House gives migrants FINAL warning before Title 42 expires

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued yet another stern warning Thursday to migrants considering the dangerous trek to the U.S. guided by 'ruthless smugglers' after Title 42 ends – saying they will face 'steeper' consequences after the clock strikes midnight.

Authorities at the border have been experiencing a daily crush of migrants, topping 10,000 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

At the White House on Thursday, Mayorkas once again tried to talk migrants of trying to cross illegally, even while touting new procedures meant to ease the path for legal migration.

'If anyone arrived at our southern border after midnight tonight, they will be presumed ineligible for asylum and subject to steeper consequences for unlawful entry, including a minimum five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution,' said Mayorkas, who faces calls to resign or even face impeachment by congressional Republicans amid chaos at the border.

Migrants who enter the country illegally after midnight are 'subject to steeper consequences,' Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned at the White House Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listened

He cited administration efforts to surge 24,000 Border Patrol agents the thousands of troops and asylum officers to the border – even as he faced repeated questions about why more of the administration's policies weren't already put in place given the two years it had to prepare for the end of the Trump-era immigration authority. 

'We expected to see large numbers of encounters initially,' he said. We are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors. This places an incredible strain on personnel, our facilities and our communities with whom we partner closely. We prepared for this moment for almost two years and our plan will deliver results.'

He touted one new feature, a new app called CBP One that has allowed more than 700 people each day to make appointments at border points of entry – despite press reports that users have experienced glitches and had great difficulty making an appointment. 

Speaking to reporters for an hour, he got asked about President Biden's own comment this week that the situation at the border would be ''chaotic for a while' – and why the administration couldn't have prepared more.

Migrants were gathering near border crossings anticipating the end of Title 42 authority

A wave of cross the Rio Grande in Matamoros on the last day before Title 42 authority expires

Soldiers observe migrants after crossing the Rio Grande to try to enter the United States, in Matamoros, Mexico

'Well, I have said for months and months that the challenge at the border is and it's going to be very difficult and we have spoken repeatedly about the fact that difficulty may actually only increase at this time of transition,' he responded.

But he put much of the blame on a 'fundamentally broken immigration system,' after Congress has failed repeatedly since the 1990s to pass a comprehensive overhaul.

Mayorkas is banking on new policies that provide a legal pathway and hoping they take some of the strain off the system. He repeatedly cited the achievements of a new program to provide 'parole' and two-year work permits to migrants from certain countries including Venezuala, Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua. The program has led to steep drops at other entry points, but they are only a fraction of the migrants trying to make it into the country.

Again on Thursday, migrants sought to cross the Rio Grande or lined up at entry points to try to make asylum claims. 

Border agents have been stopping 10,000 migrants each day this week – a threshold they met again Wednesday for the third consecutive day.

That included about 1,000 arrivals a day in Yuma, Arizona Tuesday, with migrants gathered in Ciudad Juárez hoping to cross border checkpoints when Title 42 expires, and continued confusion about whether newly announced Biden administration policies will succeed in speeding deportations of people who make asylum claims that don't hold up.

Customs and Border Protection currently has about 26,000 migrants in custody amid a rush to process the arrivals, several thousand over capacity.