SUNLAND PARK, N.M. − Border Patrol agent Orlando Marrero-Rubio spotted two men hiding in the low creosote brush less than a mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border fence.

He pulled the men from Guatemala and Ecuador from the desert sand and gave orders in Spanish: Let’s go. Give me your cellphone. Hands behind your head. Get up. Hands behind your head!

The men, both in their 40s, had crossed illegally. In the waning days of Title 42, they would be among the last to be expelled by Border Patrol with no legal consequence: no deportation record, no criminal charge.

The men would be summarily returned, to Mexico or their country of origin, as migrants had been nearly 2.8 million times during three years of the pandemic-era expulsion policy − coming to an end 11:59 p.m. EDT May 11. For those who tried to cross to the U.S. illegally, the Title 42 public health order created a revolving door at the border that will be slammed shut.