Title 42 has ended. Here’s what it did, and how US immigration policy is changing
13 May 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Title 42 has come to an end.
The controversial policy that went into effect during Donald Trump’s presidency denied migrants the right to seek asylum. With that option back on the table, several state and local leaders are concerned about what that could mean for Kansas.
Sen. Roger Marshall visited Brownsville, Texas, Thursday night as Title 42 expired at midnight. He says with the sheer number of people waiting to cross the southern border (roughly 170,000), he says the end of Title 42 opens the door for more fentanyl to be smuggled into the states.
“Last week, the border patrol seized 56 pounds of fentanyl. We don’t know how much got through the border, but we know it was enough to kill approximately 300 young Americans every day,” Sen. Marshall said.
“From 2020-2022, the KBI saw a fentanyl increase in lab submissions of 900…this is not coming from anywhere other than our southern border,” Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) Director Tony Mattivi said.
In addition to the fight against fentanyl, Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter says he’s concerned about other county resources already stretched razor-thin.
“Our resources here are tapped out. Mental health resources are tapped out, our social services are tapped out, you see the homeless situation taking place here, a lot of our housing situation is at full max…I don’t know what we will do here if that becomes the policy, and we’re going to receive an influx of people,” Sheriff Easter said.
The International Rescue Committee’s Executive Director, Yeni Silva-Renteria, says the organization currently serves 250 asylum seekers living in Wichita (the majority of which came to the southern border). She says although seeking asylum is a legal pathway to citizenship, migrants, on average, wait between three and four years before that becomes a reality.
“Even though they have a residency card, they’re not even eligible for benefits, so that also…you know, it’s a myth that a lot of them are coming to take advantage of our services because they’re not even eligible for the first five years regardless of their legal status,” Silva-Renteria said.
Silva-Renteria says she’s working on forming a partnership with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office to better address the effects of the border crisis here at home.
“You see it in different parts of the state how those communities have developed because of the immigrants coming there, but for some reason, it’s not being accepted as a positive,” Silva-Renteria said.