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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. authorities said Monday that they stopped migrants more than 234,000 times in April, one of the highest marks in decades as the Biden administration prepares to lift pandemic-era restrictions on claiming asylum.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials made 234,088 stops on the Mexican border last month, a 5.8% increase from 221,303 in March, according to a Justice Department filing in a lawsuit filed by Texas and Missouri.

The April total would have been lower without more than 23,000 people — many of them Ukrainian refugees admitted on humanitarian parole — who went through a San Diego border crossing. The number of Ukrainians has dropped sharply since April 25, when the administration began directing those fleeing Russia’s invasion to U.S. airports from Europe, instead of through Mexico.

On May 23, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to end restrictions that have prevented migrants

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that Republicans delaying passage of a roughly $10 billion COVID-19 relief bill to force a vote on Title 42 – the federal public health policy that allows illegal immigrants to be sent home – is “blackmail.”

“There’s no use holding it up to blackmail, as the Republicans are trying to do,” the leader of the Democrat-controlled chamber said Sunday on CNN. 

The attempt by Congress to pass a measure that would result in billions more in additional COVID spending stalled last month in the Senate when Democrats refused to vote on an amendment that could nudge the Biden administration away from rolling back Title 42.

However, several Senate Democrats are also opposed to ending Title 42 enforcement by May 23, as the administration has announced, without a plan to address the expected, resulting surge in immigration at the southern U.S. border. 

In addition, Connecticut Democrat

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos told Border Report that lifting Title 42 could jeopardize not only the safety but the health of his South Texas city.

“My position would be, ‘Do not lift Title 42 until I know that our community is 100% safe,’” Villalobos said Monday at the Rio Grande Valley Business Summit, where he introduced Gov. Greg Abbott for a late afternoon panel.

“If they do lift Title 42 look at what’s going on in different areas of the country,”he said. “COVID still exists. A lot of people think just because we’re doing well it can stay that way but we are concerned about it.”

Hidalgo County officials told Border Report on Monday that there were 18 reported cases of coronavirus, including 12 hospitalizations in the border county, which includes the city of McAllen. Since the pandemic began, the county has had over 200,300

U.S. authorities said Monday that they stopped migrants more than 234,000 times in April, one of the highest marks in decades as the Biden administration prepares to lift pandemic-era restrictions on claiming asylum.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials made 234,088 stops on the Mexican border last month, a 5.8% increase from 221,303 in March, according to a Justice Department filing in a lawsuit filed by Texas and Missouri.

The figure is a 22-year high and surpassed the previous high of Biden’s presidency of 209,906 set in March, and the highest level since March 2000, when it reached 220,063. 

Also in April, 117,989 migrants were released into the United States and 113,248 were removed. Of that, 98,908 were expelled via Title 42. 

Border agents dealt with 234,000 migrants at the southern border in April. Pictured, an asylum seeking migrant at the U.S.-Mexico border is assisted after nearly fainting in the

Congressional Democrats who hoped to advance a bill that would legalize abortion up to the moment of birth have erased any mention of women in the legislation in deference to transgender men who might become pregnant.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have codified the 1973 Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion up to 24 weeks and allowed the procedure up until birth if deemed necessary by a doctor. 

The measure has been introduced in the past, facing defeat by Republicans every time, but the language in the bill has evolved in deference to the demands of the LGBTQ community.

While the 2019 version of the legislation referred to “women’s health” and “women seeking abortion services,”  the measure blocked in the Senate on Wednesday leaves out “woman” entirely after the title of the bill and substitutes “patient,” “person” or “individual,” in place of it.

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