Title 42 ends Thursday, here’s what comes next

FOX 9's Adam Klepp spoke to an immigration expert about the end of the policy which has been used over 2 million times at the southern border

YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - The millions of Title 42 expulsions created a backlog of migrants waiting in Mexico for the policy to end.

It’s part of why there’s already a surge along the southwest border, expected to continue increasing after Thursday.

Hundreds of migrants crossed into Yuma Wednesday morning, and line up at the wall.

It’s the next step in their journey after leaving their home countries.

“I came here to work. To be well-behaved and to improve. That’s what I want and hopefully, they give me the opportunity," Judi Novoa from Peru said.

They all turn themselves in to border patrol, wanting to be arrested so they can ask for asylum.

Immigration expert Alex Miller says it’s a right provided to all non-citizens under Title 8 of the U.S immigration code.

“What Title 8 meant was that an individual who was seeking asylum could assert a fear-based claim and go through a normal immigration process,” Miller said.

However, Title 42 superseded Title 8 during the national health emergency declared by the federal government.

All migrants will be processed under Title 8 after Thursday, but the Biden Administration is implementing a new rule to make asylum more difficult to achieve.

Requiring migrants to seek asylum in countries on the way to the U.S., or by using the 'CBP One' app.

“Asylum is an urgent protection, and it is incredibly concerning that individuals could be denied access to protection in part due to their manner of entry,” Miller said.

Under Title 8, if a migrant is ordered to be removed from the country, it also carries criminal penalties.

Unlike migrants who were removed under Title 42.

“In particular with respect to this new asylum transit ban, a five-year bar for individuals deported under the rule,” Miller said.

Charges migrants at the wall in Yuma hope they won't have to face.

“I wouldn’t like to be deported. I would like to stay because we suffer a lot to get here and we hope to get here. To reach our goal,” Novoa said.

A spokesperson for CBP in Arizona says Title 42 is scheduled to end at 9 p.m. local time on Thursday.