Why the US expects a border surge and is deploying troops

A version of this story appears in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. CNN — The layer of duct tape that has been holding up US immigration policy will be ripped off, and nobody seems completely ready for what’s next: In preparation for an expected surge of border crossings, the Pentagon is dispatching additional active-duty troops to the US-Mexico border to free up Department of Homeland Security agents. “The whole idea of regional processing centers is to give people a lawful, safe, regular way to enter the United States.” But there are already more than 36,000 migrants, according to estimates, camped along the border in northern Mexico waiting for the end of Title 42. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has asked the federal government to stop giving Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to the Texas border cities using federal dollars to rent buses and ship migrants farther north. “Clearly there’s significant policy change that is needed at the US-Mexico border; one that actually starts with increasing and providing better assistance for US asylum claims, one that is more fair and transparent about who can come to the country and seek asylum in which ways,” he told CNN’s Rosemary Church.