Ronald Vitiello, former chief of U.S. Border Patrol, told Newsmax on Wednesday that officials on the southern border are "already overwhelmed" and said rescinding Title 42 "is just going to make it worse."
Vitiello said on "National Report" that Title 42 is "important in the sense that it allows for more convenient workflow for the agents of the Border Patrol at the border now, right? They can quickly expel people that come across illegally from Mexico. They can send them back. That takes between 15 minutes and a half hour."
Vitiello said that "once Title 42 drops, that authority is rescinded by the court or however it goes away … they're going to be required to book all those people in and that takes it from half-hour to 23 hours."
Vitiello added: "We went from 40-year lows of illegal activity on the southwest border to the worst border surge ever. They're seeing between 6,000 and 8,000 people coming across every single day. They're estimating that once the Title 42 is rescinded, then there we're talking upwards of 14,000 people a day.
"There's just not enough room in important patrol stations and holding facilities and workstations and the interviews and all of the paperwork that has to take place to put people in the system. They're already overwhelmed and this is just going to make it worse."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.