Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas addressed his planned response at a news briefing last month:

"We have been preparing for this transition for more than a year and a half. Notwithstanding those preparations, we do expect that encounters at our southern border will increase."

WHITE FLASH

"Let me be clear: our border is not open and will not be open after May 11th."

That's when so-called Title 42 regulations expire. The policy from former President Donald Trump's era authorized the rapid expulsion of asylum-seeking migrants during the global health crisis.

And migrants have been expelled more than 2.7 million times under Title 42, a total that includes many repeat border-crossers.

In preparation, the Biden administration has announced measures to head off a spike in migrants, including some regulations that resemble Trump-era policies blocked by U.S. courts.

The administration plans to ramp up deportations while also expanding legal pathways for would-be migrants. The new rules would also deny asylum for migrants who passed through other nations without seeking protection there first or who failed to use U.S. legal options for entry.

All this comes ahead of a 2024 presidential election that could have Biden again facing Trump for the White House. The Democrat may be looking to reduce the number of migrants entering the U.S. and blunt the rhetoric of a potential opponent who won his first race on a severely anti-immigrant message.

Elaine Kamarck is with the the Brookings Institution:

"The people who voted for Trump and voted for Republicans are going to believe that Biden didn't do enough. There's going to be some Democrats who are going to say, 'Well, gee, we wish he didn't do that, but, well, he's better than the alternative. And, the very small swing people in the middle, I think, will probably say, 'Well, he's trying his best in a tough situation.... In the end, it doesn't have a huge impact. Remember that in a very, very closely divided and very, very polarized country, there are very few issues that move lots of people from one side to another."

In response to the expiration of Title 42, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives plans to pass a package of border security measures. They would put tougher constraints on immigrant asylum-seekers, resume construction of a wall along the southwest border with Mexico and expand federal law enforcement.

Jorge Loweree, the managing director of programs and strategy at the American Immigration Council see this approach as one of conflict not compromise as we head into the next presidential election.

"We certainly expect that it's going to play a very prominent role in the 2024 election. It's an issue that has been effectively weaponized in many ways.

And the way that we're seeing the politics played out, the way that we're seeing things play out on Capitol Hill, makes it clear that that some members, some elected leaders, do agree to a value in retaining the issue as a wedge, as a weapon to wield in elections, rather than working to find meaningful solutions to get us to a better place."

Biden and Trump already debated border issues in the 2020 campaign and could do so again next year if the former president wins the Republican nomination.

Trump leads his primary opponents by a wide margin in current polling.