U.S. sees record migration influx as pandemic border restrictions lift

L PASO — The Biden administration Thursday vowed that its border strategy would succeed over time despite a record influx of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border as it lifts pandemic-era measures and overcrowding worsens in government facilities.

Illegal border crossings have topped 10,000 per day this week, the highest levels ever, as the Title 42 border policy expired at 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Thousands of migrants forded the Rio Grande into the Brownsville, Tex., area, or arrived elsewhere, including more than 800 miles away on the dusty strip of U.S. land between the riverbanks and the border wall east of downtown El Paso.

With Border Patrol stations and processing centers maxed out, officials authorized the release of migrants without court dates at locations where facilities exceeded 125 percent of their holding capacity or other thresholds were surpassed. But a federal judge stepped in late Thursday to block the release plan, granting a temporary restraining order sought by Florida’s attorney general.