Department of Homeland Security asks federal judge for quicker ruling on Title 42

DHS says a ruling by Friday would help them and others better prepare for what comes next - 13 On Your Side's Luis Lopez reports

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The Department of Homeland Security is asking a federal judge for a ruling on Title 42 by Friday, saying it will help them better prepare for what ever comes next.

The request for a faster ruling comes as numbers continue to rise.

The notice asking for the ruling says it would quote “help to avoid uncertainty that could pose operational challenges,” unquote.

Arizona representative Tim Dunn says they may want a quicker ruling to help border patrol.

“They’re trying to implement and maybe it’s so that they give the Border Patrol a heads up, I would hope that they would want to help our Border Patrol, give some lead, advance notice, but I’m assuming they want to roll it in as quick as they can and try to push up the ruling,” Dunn said.

Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines says the already high numbers could also be why DHS made the request.

“They have been returning people to different countries and I believe that is set to expire on Sunday and if it is extended and they’re still under Title 42 then they will have to work through a backlog of people that will be piling up in their detention facilities,” Lines said.

Those numbers, posing an issue to local resources, as the total apprehensions have risen to over 177,000 since last October.

Leaving uncertainty for what could happen if Title 42 is lifted.

“We don’t know what we don’t know, right? We don’t know technically what’s on the other side of the border, what that might do to the community, that’s really our concern,” Lines said.

The most recent numbers from DHS show over 27,000 apprehensions in the Yuma Sector last month alone.

However, only about 1,700 of those were under Title 42.

The rest, under Title Eight.