The U.S. has ended a COVID-19 border restriction that had blocked many migrants at the frontier with Mexico, leading thousands to make a last minute attempt to get into the U.S.. 

However, the order known as Title 42 was immediately replaced with a sweeping new asylum regulation meant to deter illegal crossings, with many migrants believing it would make it harder to stay in the U.S. once crossing the border. 

The consequent confusion led to reports of frantic scenes at crossings along the frontier. Francisco Vasquez, a U.S. photographer who has been capturing the drama in the cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso described the situation to CGTN Europe as "very eye opening."

"I'm trying to capture the humanity, the intimate moments, just for people to see that these are humans, people just like us," he says. 

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In the Texas city of El Paso, hundreds of migrants were reportedly sleeping outside on American soil by the border fence as the sun rose on Friday morning.  Texas National Guard, state troopers and border agents patrolled the area where migrants were waiting to be processed by U.S. border authorities.

Across the border in Ciudad Juarez a day earlier, migrant shelters were half full, holding about 1,600 people. Many of the migrants were planning to apply for legal U.S. entry via an app called CBP One, according to the shelter directors. 

In total, thousands of migrants have reportedly entered U.S. territory in recent days, hoping to be processed before the new rules took effect. However, things were calmer at the border than many media evaluations, Vasquez said. 

A journalist friend in Juarez told him that the streets were "pretty much empty compared to two weeks ago. They've closed down the wall, people are being processed." 

The photographer added that as the issue has become a political football for U.S. Democrats and opposition Republicans, it was urgent to detoxify the situation and show some compassion to those attempting to make the crossing. 

"There are families, children, there are good people there that want to come here and be productive citizens and contribute to society," he says. 

Depoliticizing the issue was key, Vasquez added. 

"I spoke with a police officer in El Paso on my second to last day... I asked them what was happening within those two weeks from when I first started and the first thing he did was bring up the President of United States." 

"That's what I'm hoping to change," he says, "that we don't veer off into our own political parties and actually look at the situation as a humanitarian crisis, because that's what it is." 

Change in the law

The Title 42 regulation presumes most migrants will not be granted asylum if they passed through other countries without first seeking protection elsewhere - or if they failed to use legal pathways for U.S. entry. 

Trump first implemented the rule in March 2020 as COVID-19 swept the globe, with U.S. health officials claiming it was needed to curb the spread of the virus in detention facilities.

The order allowed American authorities to quickly send migrants back to Mexico or other countries without a chance to request U.S. asylum.

Democrats, public health experts and immigration advocates at the time claimed this was an extension of Trump's quest to block migrants at the border.

However, just before Title 42 was set to expire at midnight on Thursday, immigration advocates sued the current government over the new laws, claiming that Biden's Democrats had simply expanded Trump's rules, which they say are in violation of U.S. laws and international agreements.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has defended them, saying they aim to encourage migrants to enter using legal pathways rather than crossing illegally.

"It's going to be a tough transition," Mayorkas told MSNBC.

Millions of expulsions

Migrants have been expelled more than 2.7 million times under Title 42 since the law was brought into effect. Mexico has generally only accepted certain nationalities - its own citizens, migrants from northern Central America and more recently migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua. 

Therefore, during the same period, around 2.8 million migrants ineligible for expulsion were allowed into the U.S. under a process known as Title 8 to pursue their immigration claims in court, which can take months or years.

In fact, since the end of the pandemic, Biden's administration has seen record numbers of migrants hoping to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

The new asylum rule, Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas and other Biden officials say, is aimed at spreading the message that those who attempt illegal crossings will face consequences.

However, critics of the Democrat's new immigration rules say they are too lax, with many in the U.S. strongly opposed to new arrivals coming to the country. 

With the Democrats and opposition Republicans accused of treating the issue like a political football, Vasquez said that the two parties needed to find some common ground to address the issue. 

"Immigration is something that's always been happening and it's going to continue," he pointed out. "So I guess we can start by not politicizing the issue."

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