WASHINGTON, D.C. — Questions continue to swirl about the end of Title 42, the controversial public health measure President Joe Biden wants to end on Monday.

A ruling from a federal judge in the coming days could, however, keep it in place.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

Title 42 is the pandemic public health policy that immediately expelled over a million asylum-seeking migrants during the pandemic.

Former President Donald Trump initially put the policy in place and it has continued into the Biden presidency.

Data has shown the migrants turned away over the last several years were primarily from Mexico, although they also came from other places in Central America, like Guatemala and Honduras.

Individuals from Caribbean nations like Haiti were also reportedly turned away as were some from European countries like Belarus.

Human rights groups believe the U.S. should be accommodating to those seeking persecution from other countries.

U.S. law requires the United States to accept refugees who have "well-founded" fears of persecution.

Opponents are arguing this is going to create a mass migration mess at the border and that the country is not prepared to handle the influx of migrants.

WAITING ON COURT RULING

The country is waiting on District Court Judge Robert Summerhays to rule on whether the Biden administration can end the policy.

It's possible Summerhays rules in favor of Republican attorneys general who brought the lawsuit. Summerhays has previously ruled in favor of conservatives on consequential issues.

No matter what the Trump appointee decides, an appeal is likely.

ARE WE READY?

If the judge allows Biden to end Title 42, the logical question is whether the U.S. is prepared for what could happen at the border.

Republicans and some Democrats believe there needs to be a better plan.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as well as Border Patrol, has told reporters they are prepared.

"The Secretary and I have had the opportunity to meet with our front line officers, agents and our workforce to ensure that we are prepared for May 23^rd and beyond," U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said Tuesday during a border event with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

DHS has worked to mobilize staff and volunteers to the border in anticipation of a surge of asylum-seeking migrants when Title 42 ends.

Temporary facilities have been promised to be built as well.

Currently, around 8,000 people a day show up at America's borders. The Department of Homeland Security has said that it is preparing for the possibility of 18,000 each day once the measure is lifted.

HARLINGEN, Texas —

U.S. authorities on Thursday expanded slots to seek asylum at land crossings with Mexico through a mobile app for the second time in less than a month, seeking to dispel doubts it isn't a viable option.

There are now 1,250 appointments daily at eight land crossings, up from 1,000 previously and 740 in early May.

The increase “reflects our commitment to continue to expand lawful options for migrants,” said Blas Nuñez-Neto, the Homeland Security Department's assistant secretary for border and immigration policy. "We’ll continue to expand appointments at the border as our operations allow in terms of capacity.”

Nuñez-Neto called CBP One a “safe and orderly option” during a visit to Harlingen, Texas. He announced the expansion a week after Texas sued to end what the state government considers an illegal method of boosting immigration.

Demand has far outstripped supply from the Jan. 12 start, prompting many to consider crossing the border illegally or giving up. Enrique Lucero, migrant affairs director for the city of Tijuana, said the latest increase would have little impact considering how many are waiting.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “It’s still very low and not enough for the pent-up demand.”

After pandemic-related asylum restrictions ended May 11, the Biden administration continued its embrace of a carrot-and-stick approach to the border, introducing a general ban on asylum for people who travel through other countries, like Mexico, and enter the U.S. illegally.

Video below: Migrants ride so-called 'Train of Death' hoping to make it to US

U.S. authorities are trying to funnel people to “legal pathways” like CBP One and parole for up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who apply online with a financial sponsor and arrive by air.

CBP One is for people of any nationality who apply in central and northern and northern Mexico and enter by land.

The expansion on Thursday was met with cautious optimism and mild indifference among some of the 150 people, mostly families with young children, camped on a sidewalk at a border crossing where Tijuana leads to San Diego, hoping U.S. officials admit them without a CBP One appointment.

They said it appeared authorities were allowing about one family every several hours, enough to create a growing bottleneck over the last week as word spread it was an alternative.

Carlos Vasquez, 25, reached southern Mexico from Honduras in January with his pregnant wife and their 4-year-old daughter and started trying daily on the app once he was in central Mexico. He became frustrated and, on Monday, began sleeping at the border camp, hoping U.S. officials would take mercy on his family.

Vasquez said the increase to 1,250 a day was good news but not enough for a major impact.

“We are many and there are few chosen,” he said.

Sergio Hernandez, 35, scored an appointment on May 24 after more than five months of daily effort. The appointments are scheduled up to two weeks out.

Hernandez, a Guatemalan who plans to seek asylum while living with a childhood friend in Kansas City, Missouri, said he had received countless “system error” messages before confirming a slot. He was once given a date on his phone screen but email confirmation never arrived.

“They keep improving it little by little,” he said.

Hernandez, who was traveling alone, said perceptions persist that larger families are at a disadvantage, which U.S. officials deny.

Beatriz Melchor, 47, said she would wait to see if the latest increase has an impact. She has been trying the app for about six weeks with her husband and son and said changes announced in early May have produced no noticeable benefit.

The changes included giving higher priority to asylum-seekers who have been trying the app longest and making appointments available throughout the day instead of all at once, which created mad rushes.

“We have more than a month trying and there are people here nine days, four days, and they get their appointments,” she said.

Melchor said returning to her hometown in the Mexican state of Guerrero wasn’t an option. Criminals blocked exits and entrances and she had to escape. If the mobile app doesn’t work, she is prepared to wait, though she said Tijuana is unsafe.

___

Spagat reported from Tijuana, Mexico.

WORCESTER, Mass. — It isn't easy for 25-year-old Sumaya to talk about the life she left behind in Africa. Three years after leaving her home in Uganda, this refugee is still afraid for her family she doesn't want her real name used.

Sumaya fled to the United States in 2019 after people in her hometown found out she was a lesbian. Being openly gay in Uganda is considered a crime and can be punishable by death.

"When I came here, I totally lost my family. They don't want to communicate with me. Back home I had a girlfriend for 10 years, but we had to hide it," she said.

There are not a lot of statistics kept on LGBTQ asylum seekers like Sumaya. Around the world though, being openly gay is illegal in about 70 countries. The latest data from the US government shows that from 2007 to 2017, at least 4,385 people were identified as seeking asylum because of their LGBTQ status.

"I knew I couldn’t do it anymore. I thought I would try and change, but I couldn’t," Sumaya said about her life in Uganda.

For asylum-seekers like Sumaya though, just fleeing persecution is only the beginning of their journey. Once in the United States, many have a hard time finding housing while they wait for work visas to be approved.

Which is where Pastor Judith Hanlon comes in.

Pastor Hanlon is with the Hadwen Park Church United Church of Christ in Worcester, Massachusetts. Over the past decade, the congregation has worked to create a nonprofit which provides housing opportunities to LGBTQ asylum seekers like Sumaya.

"We have all new appliances, granite countertops!" Pastor Hanlon explained as she showed us around the nonprofit's newest and most expensive endeavor.

Before this year, the LGBT Asylum Task Force was housing people in rented apartments around the city of Worcester. Thanks to years of hard work and donations, they were able to raise more than $500,000 to purchase a three-story home and renovate it for asylum seekers to live in until they're able to secure permanent housing.

It's the only housing program in the country tailored specifically to LGBTQ asylum seekers.

"We were paying $43,000 a month to keep people in these apartments and realized a mortgage would cost one of the rents. So, we made a decision and had a three-year campaign to purchase a home, so we purchased this home I’m in right now," Pastor Hanlon said.

In addition to housing, the task force provides a $500 monthly stipend for immigrants until they can receive work authorization—a process that usually takes around two years.

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego Convention Center will be used for about three months to help house unaccompanied children seeking asylum at the border, as the country faces a surge in claims for asylum along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Monday, in a joint statement, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and County Supervisor Chair Nathan Fletcher said the convention center would become a temporary shelter for those children after Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra reached out to leaders for help.

"When [Becerra] requested our help to house some of the unaccompanied minors at the border, we knew it was the right thing to do. Over the weekend, we agreed to open our Convention Center to the federal government for use as a temporary shelter. The City and County will support this federally funded effort by providing vital services to these vulnerable children who came to our country seeking safety. We are working closely with our federal partners to finalize the details for preparing to receive these young people and provide them with care, compassion and a safe space to transition while they are reunited with families or sponsors," the joint statement said.

Currently, the U.S. is scrambling to build up the capacity to care for 14,000 unaccompanied children in federal custody, according to the Associated Press.

"Some of these children became separated from their family during their long and dangerous journey, some are orphans, and others were sent by desperate parents with hopes of delivering their children to a safe haven away from trauma, poverty, and danger in their home country," a release from Gloria's office read.

A date is being finalized for when the convention center would become the temporary home. Those brought to the center will include children up to the age of 17 years old, county officials said. It wasn't immediately clear how many children would be brought to the center.

Once the site is operational, the site will be used for about three months, officials added, saying that the average stay for each child will be about 30 to 35 days. The center will provide food, medical care, sleeping arrangements, and showers. Space will also be secured for recreation. The children will not be allowed to leave the center until reunification, officials said.

The HHS Refugee Resettlement Program will fund the temporary shelter at the center.

The San Diego Rapid Response Network Migrant Shelter Services, which is operated by Jewish Family Service of San Diego, announced Monday that they were in urgent need of volunteers and staff to help amid an increase in immigration processing.

“We remain committed to welcoming asylum seekers into the United States and helping them travel to their loved ones across the U.S., with public health as the top priority. The last two weeks have been exceptionally challenging. In order to serve the hundreds of asylum seekers in our care, more volunteers and staff are needed,” said Michael Hopkins, CEO of Jewish Family Service. “We continue to work with all levels of government and our partners to determine how we can all best meet needs. It is critical that the federal government continue to work to rebuild and reimagine our country’s broken asylum and immigration systems, including the processes for migrant shelter services across the border region.”

This week, the convention center is set to transition homeless individuals staying there as part of the city's Operation Shelter to Home program to beds throughout the city's shelter system. That program has helped nearly 1,300 people and 43 families find permanent or long-term housing since it was opened after the pandemic began.

About two years ago, San Diego County used a closed county courthouse to help temporarily shelter asylum-seeking families released by the government.

This article was written by Mark Saunders for KGTV.

TIJUANA, Mexico -- Just after sunrise, the rust-colored border wall looks like a snake separating two lands.

For months, migrants have been traveling toward the United States with the hope of seeking a better life. Normally people can present themselves at the U.S. point of entry to request asylum if they’re fleeing from danger. Then they go through a process of having their case heard to see if it’s legitimate. However, current U.S. laws make it nearly impossible for migrants to seek asylum – leaving them stuck at the border.

Esperanza Encampment is the name of the migrant encampment at El Chaparral point of entry. According to Border Angels -- a nonprofit that advocates for human rights -- more than 2,000 people are living there with about eight new families arriving per day. Most of them are fleeing dangerous situations so very few of them feel safe showing their face on camera. One woman willing to show her face is Jessy. We are not sharing her last name for her protection. She left Honduras with two of her kids because their lives were threatened by gang members.

“The gang members entered our apartment and tied us up… they put our kids in danger and gave us three days to leave," Jessy said. "We had to flee from there, from the colony, because they wanted us to pay them 10,000 pesos." (In Spanish: "Las maras entraron a esto apartamento y nos amararron…pusieron a nuestros hijos en peligro y nos dieron tres días para que saliéramos. Huyéndose a que nos salieron de allí, de la colonia, porque querían que les pagáramos diez mil pesos.”)

Jessy says her kids have experienced a lot of trauma.

"My daughter actually had to go to therapy because they put a gun to her head when she was little…she was only 6 years old," Jessy said. "Truth is, it was very bad so we had to leave in a hurry." (In Spanish: Mi niña de hecho tuvo que estar en psicología porque a ella la pusieron la pistola en la cabeza y estaba pequeña…solo tenía seis años. La verdad, fue bien terrible y por eso nosotros teníamos que salir huyendo.”)

They’ve been at Esperanza Encampment for nearly 40 days.

“They're so close to the U.S. and yet still so far on their journey. So, um, I can't describe it in any other way except heartbreaking,” Border Angels executive director Dulce Garcia said.

Border Angels has been supporting the migrants with supplies.

“There’s still a need for food," Garcia said. "Ya know, basic things – food, tarp, blankets.”

Walking around the camp, Garcia shows us how the migrants have formed their own community. They have cooks, security guards and teachers for the kids.

Throughout the day, different church groups and other humanitarian organizations drop off food or something to drink. However, there’s still a huge need for drinkable water. Jessy says many kids have been getting sick.

"The majority of the camp has gotten sick," Jessy said. "The majority in the camp have the flu. They have coughs; most of the kids carry on like this.” (In Spanish: “La mayoría en el campamento se han enfermado. La mayoría en el campamento tienen gripa. Tienen tos, la mayoría de los niños andan todo así.")

These people say they're here because they’re desperate: fleeing political persecution, gang violence, domestic violence and some have lost their homes in hurricanes.

“The forces that are pushing people to leave their home countries have continued and have actually gotten worse with the pandemic,” Human Rights First legal fellow Julia Neusner said.

Human Rights First is an advocacy and action organization. Neusner has been documenting the stories of migrants for a report on a U.S. code that is keeping these migrants at the border.

“Because of Title 42, the border has been closed completely to asylum seekers completely since March 2020,” Neusner said.

Neusner says Title 42 is a rarely used U.S. law that gives government authority to exclude anybody who poses a public health risk to people in the United States. The Trump administration put it into place at the start of the pandemic. The Biden administration has yet to lift it.

“One of the first questions this woman asked us last night was 'how long is this going to take? How long do I have to wait here?' And the answer is, we don't know,” Garcia said.

Garcia says part of the reason there are so many people at the border now is because many have been given misinformation that Title 42 has been lifted.

“There are folks that prey on these people, and they tell them if you give me money, you're going to have your case heard,” Garcia said.

Now thousands of people are stuck in limbo hoping and praying for change.

“They're holding onto hope," Garcia said. "And that's why they camp has been renamed. Esperanza means 'hope' in Spanish. That's, that's all they have. Some of them literally, that's all they have.”

"The goal is that they get the border opened," Jessy said. "That they have compassion for us and let us in because while it is true that we are immigrants, we are not delinquents…We want to be able to work in the United States." (In Spanish: “La meta es que abran la frontera… que tengan compasión de nosotros y nos dejen entrar porque la verdad sí somos inmigrantes, pero no somos delinquentes...queremos ir y trabajar allí en los Estados Unidos”)

President Joe Biden was interrupted during a Georgia rally on Thursday by protesters urging him to close ICE jails.

In an exclusive interview with Newsy, one of the protesters, a transgender woman from Mexico who spent 13 months in ICE detention, says now is the time for a change.

"We want accountability. We went to support you, we went to support our two senators from Georgia. This is time to bring back to the community," says Estrella Sanchez.

President Biden responded to Sanchez and her fellow activists on stage.

"There should be no private prisons, period. None, period. That's what they're talking about: private detention centers. They should not exist. And we are working to close all of them," he said. 

The president then told the hecklers to give him five days. He later clarified to reporters he was "teasing" the activists about the timeframe. 

Either way, Sanchez says she'll continue to pressure him to fulfill his campaign pledge to end private immigration jails because she knows firsthand what they're like.

"I've been humiliated when I went to those detention centers as being Indigenous, as being trans. It's not easy to stay in solitary confinement for 13 months," Sanchez recalls. 

She says she was kept in solitary confinement as a protection against harassment from other inmates. But she says the isolation left her scarred.   

"The conditions were inhumane. The conditions were very painful," she said.

Before the pandemic, the Trump administration was expanding the detention system at a record pace by detaining more immigrants without criminal convictions.

But then COVID-19 forced ICE to dramatically step back. 

Advocates say this presents the perfect opportunity for President Biden.

"It simply makes no sense that we detain people who pose no threat to public safety simply based on their immigration status," said John Sandweg, a former ICE director in the Obama administration. 

But immigration hardliners counter that detention facilities, private or not, ensure immigrants show up to their court hearings and protect the public amid a historic migration surge at the border.

"They are detaining the worst of their population. And these are not people that you would want released back onto the street," said Lora Ries, a former Homeland Security official in the Trump administration.

As for Sanchez, she was released from ICE detention in 2013 after facing a serious attack from another inmate.

For the next five years, her movements were monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet. 

She eventually won her asylum case in 2018 after documenting the sexual persecution she faced as a transgender woman in Mexico.

Ben Schamisso at Newsy first reported this story.