Former President Donald Trump warned the U.S. will face a "day of infamy" when Title 42 expires Thursday.
"Tomorrow is going to be a day of infamy. You're going to have tens of thousands of people pouring into our country," Trump said Wednesday in response to a question during a CNN town hall.
He was referring to the lifting of his administration's public health order which allowed for the expulsion of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"If people are sick and have infectious diseases and lots of other problems, we don't want them being in our country.
"We have enough problems right now. We have problems like we've never had in the history of our country," said Trump, who is a candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
His comments came as the U.S. is experiencing a dramatic uptick in migrants coming to the country, largely from Latin America, ahead of the expiration of Title 42, which allowed the U.S. to swiftly remove migrants seeking asylum.
Title 42's expiry has raised concerns among officials that it could worsen the existing humanitarian crisis at the southern border by encouraging a surge of migrants attempting to cross into the U.S.
The Biden administration has been bracing for an expected surge in migrant arrivals at the southern border as Title 42 comes to an end.
Since Title 42 was enacted by Trump in March 2020, the policy has allowed the U.S. to expel migrants nearly 2.7 million times from the southern border, according to government figures.
Under U.S. law, any migrant can claim asylum in the U.S. whether or not they come to the country through a legal port of entry.
In addition to sending some 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border for three months to bolster the capacity of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced last week that the U.S. is establishing migrant processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala to help stymy the expected surge.
During the televised town hall, Trump also indicated that if he were to win the 2024 U.S. presidential election, he would "most likely" grant pardons to individuals convicted of federal offenses related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
"I'm inclined to pardon many of them…If I get in, I will most likely. I would say it will be a large portion of them," he said.
While noting that he would not be able to pardon "every single one," the former president said "many of them are just great people."
Trump's supporters stormed the federal legislature on Jan. 6, 2021 in a failed bid to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to President Joe Biden.
Trump also expressed his desire for an end to casualties in the Russia-Ukraine conflict but declined to take sides in the war.
"I want everybody to stop dying. They're dying. Russians and Ukrainians," he said. "And I'll have that done in 24 hours."
Asked if he would support providing military aid to Ukraine, he refused to commit to such action if elected, citing concerns about the depletion of U.S. ammunition as a result of providing too much equipment.
"We're giving away so much equipment, we don't have ammunition for ourselves right now," he said.
