The situation at the U.S.-Mexico border

This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi reported on the unprecedented migration crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

CBS News immigration reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez helped produce the story. As part of the team's reporting, he went on a ride-along with the U.S. Border Patrol early in the morning near Sunland Park, New Mexico. During a two-hour span, Montoya-Galvez watched as U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested several migrants. 

Montoya-Galvez spoke with a few of the detained migrants. One arrested couple told him they were from Mexico and had been trying to cross the border illegally to visit their sick son, who lives in Indiana.

"I have a son who's very ill, and he needs open heart surgery," the woman explained in Spanish. "I went to immigration so I could get a visa, but they denied it. We requested a permit and brought all of the documents that the cardiologist from Indiana sent us so we could get a permit, but it was denied. So there was no other option left than to do what we're doing now."

Most of the migrants 60 Minutes spoke with during the ride-along with Border Patrol said they had tried to enter the U.S. unlawfully multiple times and were on their second, third, or fourth attempt. One Border Patrol agent told 60 Minutes the border has become something of a revolving door, with migrants trying cross the border multiple times until they find the way to enter the U.S. 

In an interview with 60 Minutes, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas addressed this issue. He said the ability to return again and again is a product of the public health authority of Title 42, which was initiated by the Trump administration in March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Title 42 allows the Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to expel a migrant immediately, without allowing them the chance to make a claim for asylum. 

"So, we can turn them around, but it doesn't deliver a consequence," Mayorkas told 60 Minutes. "It is not what we call a 'formal removal under immigration law,' because if, in fact, someone is removed under our immigration authorities, then they have a five-year ban from admission into the United States. And so, it delivers a consequence for those who try to enter the United States without the legal authority to do so."

Title 42 restrictions are set to expire on May 11. The Biden administration announced in February announced a temporary new policy to be put in place at the end of the pandemic measure that it hopes will deter migration to the U.S. border. The regulation will disqualify migrants from asylum in the U.S. if they try to enter the U.S. illegally, or if they did not first seek asylum in another country like Mexico on their way to the U.S. 

The new rule is set to take effect on May 11, then remain in place for two years.

The Biden administration has argued that it needs to implement this regulation to prevent unprecedented levels of migration to the U.S. border after Title 42 is lifted. But advocates for migrants and asylum seekers have argued that this proposal resembles a Trump administration regulation that also penalized asylum seekers for not seeking protection in a third country before coming to the U.S. That policy had been struck down by several federal courts.

The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and Will Croxton. It was edited by Will Croxton.