Most Hispanic voters — 65% — support temporarily closing the U.S.-Mexico border in response to a surge in illegal crossings, human trafficking and drug smuggling, according to a poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group and Convention of States Action.
More than half — 56% — of all voters support closing the border, while 39.1% of Black, 36.5% of Asian, and 57.6% of white voters say the same.
The poll, which surveyed 1,080 respondents, comes as the Department of Homeland Security predicts an increase of as many as 18,000 border crossings per day if Title 42 is ended by the Biden administration, according to Reuters.
Under Title 42, US border agents can “expel” migrants to Mexico within hours or rapidly send them to other countries without the opportunity to seek asylum in the United States.
DHS officials told congressional offices in March that tens of thousands of migrants who are already near the border could arrive within hours of Title 42 being lifted and more than 1 million in southern Mexico and other countries could come within weeks, according to an aid briefed on the matter.
The planning effort involves building additional temporary holding facilities on the border, some of which will be ready for use by early April, one of the DHS officials said on Tuesday’s call. DHS is also working to add more staffing and transportation in an effort that involves multiple federal agencies that work with immigrants, the source said.
More than 221,000 people have crossed the southern border without documentation since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.
Lifting Title 42 will lead to a collapse of operation control along the border, critics say.