Numerous law enforcement agencies assembled at the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas, expecting a massive surge in the number of migrant arrivals from Mexico. The high alert on US borders came as Title 42 expired at midnight Thursday.

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Visuals from the area showed hundreds of migrants gathered on the bridge, waiting for the Title 42 to end.

Title 42 was enforced by Donald Trump in March 2020 to prevent migrants to enter the United States, in order to curb COVID-19.

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Before the enforcement, migrants could illegally cross the border and ask for asylum. They would be screened and often released to wait out their immigration cases.

President Joe Biden kept Title 42 in place when he took office in 2021. He faced severe Republican resistance when he wanted to end it in 2022.

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The Biden administration in January announced that it was ending national COVID emergencies thus taking off any border restrictions.

Title 42’s expulsion affects the country’s southern border the most. Record numbers of migrants were waiting for the restrictions to go away.

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“Migrant children have the right to request asylum, to be protected from harm and to be with their families. UNICEF hopes that the lifting of the public-health-related asylum restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border under Title 42 will help to restore and safeguard those rights. We commend recent efforts to provide children and families on the move with greater access to safe migration pathways, and we strongly urge all governments, including the United States, to ensure access to asylum processes – regardless of nationality,” Unicef said in a statement.