'We all heard about the 21st': Migrants arrive at Arizona border in the hundreds

He may not know regulation is called 'Title 42' or that the chief justice has kept it in place while the Supreme Court considers an appeal, but Roy knows the date.

'We all heard about the 21st,' said the 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic, speaking through the bars of Donald Trump's border wall, just outside the Arizona city of Yuma. 

'That was definitely my aim.' 

As the clock ticked from Tuesday to Wednesday, and into the 21st of December, Title 42's extra layer of immigration restrictions were meant to have been lifted, preventing the immediate deportation of Roy and others like him.

But it remains in place as conservative states, warning of a surge in arrivals at the southern border, challenge the decision.

Roy and the 50 other migrants huddled around a fire as they wait for a Customs and Border Patrol bus to collect them provide evidence that the surge has begun.

A CBP source said illegal crossings had reached as many as 1000 a day in the Yuma sector, which includes about 126 miles of border. 

Local officials have already declared a public health emergency, as they contend with the growing numbers as well as a spike in winter flu.

And the mayor said they will have to begin releasing migrants on to the streets in days, as the city has run out of room for them. 

Roy arrived after a seven-day journey via Guatemala and Mexico City.

'The economy,' he said was the reason for heading to the United States. 'We are poor people who want to work, develop, and support our families.'

He had other reasons —personal reasons, he said — when asked if he planned to seek asylum.

It was 44F on Tuesday night in the desert air. And his mostly male group, which included Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, Cubans as well as eight Georgians - were dressed in light clothes, tracksuits and shorts.

They had been waiting for two hours at the spot near a gate in the wall, directed there by border officials after they had crossed from Mexico, he said. 

'Help us,' said one. 'We need transport.' 

They were on the wrong side of the 30-foot wall, but already on U.S. soil. Minutes after speaking to DailyMail.com, a border patrol bus arrived to pick them up and start their processing, making a mockery of Biden administration claims that the border is 'secure.'

Yuma Sheriff Leon Wilmot slammed the administration's policies, which he said had caused a 14 percent increase in apprehensions compared with last year, reaching a staggering 310,000.

'Obviously the administration’s policies on handling border security continue to be a failure,' he told DailyMail.com.

For now Title 42 stays in place. The Biden administration says it is a public health regulation that has outlasted its use now that the COVID-19 pandemic has eased.

But conservative states won a reprieve on Monday when Chief Justice John Roberts ordered that it must remain in place while the Supreme Court considered their appeal.

Some frontline states are taking no chances. Some 500 National Guard troops fanned out around El Paso, Texas,  line the Rio Grande riverbank with razor wire to block migrants from entering.

But around Yuma migrants continue to find their way to the busiest crossing points.

Near Morelos dam, a pinprick of light bobbed its way along beside the border wall. It came to a halt as a border patrol SUV lit up the ground with its floodlights, illuminating a mother and two sons.

They had one bag — barely the size of a purse — between them.

Diana, 30, knelt before an officer and choked back tears as she offered him their passports, before explaining that they had arrived from Colombia.

'Violence in our city,' she said was the reason for fleeing San Andres, an island known for its coral reefs and beaches, as well as drug trafficking and violence. 

Before they could be taken for processing, her six-year-old and nine-year-old carefully removed the laces from their shoes and put them in a plastic bag given to them by the CBP officers. Diana removed silver chains from around her neck.

She said she had not paid a coyote to help her make the difficult journey, yet she had arrived at one of their favorite dropping off points.  

Migrants are left at the dam with instructions to follow the wall north, before reaching a spot where the tall, steel panels are replaced with double-stacked shipping containers. 

They know American officials will be waiting for them.

For now Title 42 stays in place. It was a public health regulation that allows arrivals to be immediately deported, without the possibility of asylum, in order to prevent the spread of disease.

It was introduced by the Trump administration to help tackle COVID-19.

The Biden administration wants it lifted.

In its submission on Tuesday evening, the Justice Department said the government recognizes 'that the end of the Title 42 orders will likely lead to disruption and a temporary increase in unlawful border crossings. 

'But the solution to that immigration problem cannot be to extend indefinitely a public-health measure that all now acknowledge has outlived its public-health justification.'

In its filing, it also asked the court to allow Title 42 to remain in place until December 27, to allow the government more time to prepare, if the court ultimately rejected the states' case. 

Those that follow Roy to the border will have a new date in mind.