As the Trump era policy Title 42 ends, right-wing media fearmonger about migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. 

Title 42, a Trump-era immigration policy that allowed border agents to turn migrants away at the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19, has ended. Right-wing media have long made claims that ending Title 42 would lead to a migrant surge, the spread of COVID-19, and an increased flow of drugs across the border. These claims are not proven and evidence suggests that Title 42 is partly responsible for the rise of violence at the border. The policy also increases the vulnerability of migrants by expelling 1.6 million migrants and could force many to return to the sometimes unsafe conditions that they were originally fleeing. 

While it has only been a few days since the end of Title 42, the fearmongering about the end of the policy seems to be unfounded. The right predicted a massive influx of migrants at the southern border following the end of Title 42, but early reports indicate that influx has not materialized.

Nonetheless, in the right’s latest attempts to push debunked and inflammatory ideas about immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, the end of Title 42 has been framed as the start of an “invasion,” Biden has been criticized for “abetting” criminals, and Democrats have been accused of trying to pad voter rolls, rhetoric which echoes the racist ”great replacement” conspiracy theory. 

Right-wing media are relying on dehumanizing language to fearmonger about the policy change: 

• Former New York Police Department commissioner and Trump-pardoned felon Bernard Kerik tweeted, “Joe Biden should be removed from office immediately. He has supported, endorsed, and allowed the invasion of this country by illegals, criminals, and terrorists, in violation of US law.”
• Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis expressed outrage at potential efforts to shelter immigrants, tweeting, “They’re going to set up tents at Central Park for illegal migrants. This is an INVASION.” 
• Far-right commentator Chuck Callesto tweeted “SHOCK REPORT: As of January, 42 Texas counties SUPPORT DECLARING AN INVASION at southern border... These numbers are NOW probably MUCH higher… Abbott STILL not budging.. Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution allows for states to REPEL AN INVASION THEMSELVES by utilizing their state guards. Declaring an invasion would also allow for governors to enter into an INTERSTATE COMPACT to secure the border.”
• The Washington Free Beacon promoted Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) claim that "this is deliberate. This is a decision that was made by President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Congressional Democrats to open up the border to what is nothing less than an invasion.”
• Fox News also quoted Cruz’s claim that “there is a full-blown invasion unfolding, and Texas is paying the price.”
• In The Washington Examiner, Mark Brnovich promoted the idea that each border state “should exercise its authority to declare an invasion pursuant to Article I, Section 10 and Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution.” 
• Fox News host Laura Ingraham lamented, “This is a tragic day for Americans,” claiming, “Our border was effectively abolished and our own government encouraged an invasion."
• Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk seized the opportunity to dehumanize immigrants while also promoting former President Donald Trump’s candidacy, tweeting, “As Title 42 expires tonight and million of illegals prepare to swarm our border, disregarding our laws and our sovereignty, remember this: If elected, Trump has promised to secure the border within 90 days and he'll empower ICE to conduct mass deportations.”
• The Daily Wire claimed that the border would experience a “human flood” as the regulations change: “Migrants have been massing on the Mexico side of the border for weeks, waiting for the expiration of Title 42, which allowed them to be turned away based on COVID concerns. With the rule sunsetting at midnight, states on or near the border were expecting a human flood."
• The National Review wrote, “The U.S. border with Mexico is now awash with teeming masses of migrants, with Customs and Border Patrol recording more illegal border crossings than ever before.”  
• Far-right activist Jack Posobiec tweeted, “Is ‘fighting woke programs’ really the top priority when there is an invasion of millions of southern migrants pouring across our borders?” 
• Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said that now that Title 8, which allows migrants to apply for asylum, is in place, migrants will try to game the system in order to gain entry into the U.S. “What do you have to say when you come to the border in order to get in? One thing that will get you in hey, is saying I'm oppressed, I'm gay, I can't stay in my country. That gets you a free pass in.” 
• Outside the Beltway host John Fredericks said to guest Richard Stern “You’re looking at it like we are. We think this is a planned invasion to get cheap votes to change the census, to get more Democratic seats, and they don’t care who suffers in the meantime.” Stern responded that Democrats “want to destroy our way of life” and that “they’re bringing in cheap voters, by the dozen, and that’s why they’ve undermined everything about our border security, our laws to bring these people in to circumvent our electoral process.”
• On the May 12 edition of Jesse Watters Primetime, Fox News guest host Pete Hegseth claimed President Joe Biden’s plan is to “dump illegals onto our streets without court dates,” adding that migrants “are waving goodbye to the border patrol and saying hello to a suburb near you.” 
• Fox host Laura Ingraham called Title 42 ending a “catastrophic” and “history-changing event” for the United States, adding that it is “totally willful and purposeful.” 
• Right-wing digital strategist Logan Hall tweeted, “democrats impeached trump over a phone call. biden is sponsoring a full-scale invasion at the southern border and importing 2024 voters en masse to guarantee future national victories for the left. where is the GOP? what are they waiting for?”
• Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren claimed that the “invasion” of immigrants will help Democrats win elections, tweeting, “We knew this was coming. They will try to excuse the mass invasion by saying we have a worker shortage. What they really mean is, we have a Democrat voter shortage so we are padding our asses with illegals!!!!”
• Known white nationalist and failed GOP congressional candidate Laura Loomer tweeted, “🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 INVASION 🚨 🚨🚨🚨🚨Title 42, which was established to allow the US government to swiftly deport illegal alien invaders, just officially EXPIRED. Prepare for a massive invasion. Our country is going to be overrun w/ future 2024 voters & third world criminals.” 

Right-wing media are also accusing the Biden administration of abetting human trafficking and drug smuggling:

• PJ Media facetiously wrote that, “Like a Black Friday mele at a two-bit department store, the Biden administration’s scuttling of Title 42 Covid border protections today opened the United States to an unprecedented flood of illegals aliens, human traffickers, and drug cartel thugs.”
• Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton tweeted that the “Biden administration is allowing and encouraging an invasion of our nation fueled by the largest human trafficking operation in the history of the world. And most Republicans (and no Democrats, of course) won't even mention impeachment. (And every state governor should be asked what they are doing to stem the invasion.)”
• Former Trump White House Press Secretary and current Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany claimed that “the torrent of illegal immigration that you are about to see was entirely preventable. There is one reason and one reason alone for the destruction, the human devastation, and the complete lawlessness about to ensue and that is President Joe Biden. He is enabling the cartels, emboldening the child traffickers, and incentivizing human devastation.”
• Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed on his show that Biden is “aiding and abetting the lawbreaking.” Correspondent Sara Carter added that “it's the Biden administration and President Biden that is perpetuating this. And they are making the cartels stronger and the human trafficking organizations stronger because they are aiding and abetting those organizations. That is what is happening in our country and somebody has to tell the truth and somebody has to put a stop to it.”