The Biden administration on Friday warned migrants heading to the southern border that the expiration of Title 42, a federal policy limited illegal immigration into the United States, would not make it easier for them to enter.

“Do not believe the lies of smugglers,” Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security secretary, said just after Title 42 expired at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. “The border is not open.”

Sherrod Brown is a stalwart progressive who doesn’t often partner with the likes of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

On the hot-button issue of immigration, though, the Ohio Democrat is siding with his caucus’ two most famous centrists.

The pandemic-era border measure used to quickly expel asylum seekers ended late Thursday with thousands of migrants crossing into the U.S. before midnight in anticipation of harsher immigration rules.

There were no immediate reports of a rush of migrants at legal ports of entry or elsewhere, which authorities feared would occur right after the expiration of Title 42. Under the public-health rule, U.S. authorities could send migrants who crossed the border illegally back to Mexico before they could request asylum.

As Title 42 comes to an end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Thursday night, Laredo was prepared for a potential surge in migrants into the area. However, as some areas around the country actually were seeing influxes trying to beat Title 42's removal -- many feared the strict new policies of the Biden administration may make it harder for them to stay in the U.S. -- the Gateway City had not seen much difference from recent days.

The shelter for migrant women and children was running out of space Wednesday when a teary-eyed woman and her 7-year-old son rang the doorbell and sheepishly peeked inside.

The pair had just arrived by bus from the Mexican state of Guerrero, each carrying small, stuffed backpacks, after a gang burned down their house and threatened to kill the woman. Advised by a friend that Mexicali was a good place to cross the border, the 31-year-old woman, who asked to be identified by her initials J.Z. out of fear for her safety, said she had planned to turn herself in to border authorities.

The United States is about to begin a new chapter in its fraught immigration policy. At midnight on Thursday, a provision that built a procedural wall against migrants – if not a physical one – is set to expire. American communities along the Mexican border are preparing for an influx of humanity, which has already begun in some areas.

With the pandemic-related restrictions known as Title 42 due to expire, the mayor of Nogales, Arizona, told Fox News that he is concerned a lack of funding may result in migrants getting stuck in his city and other border towns for days or weeks.

Mayor Jorge Maldonado said "there’s no need for people to rush the border," and that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection can only get so many people processed on a daily basis.

House Republicans are set to pass their border security proposal Thursday, a herculean achievement after the bill faced myriad objections from lawmakers over the past several months.

The long wooden boats packed with migrants in orange life jackets arrived one after another, pushed down the Tuquesa river by outboard motors. By day’s end, authorities had registered some 2,000 migrants at this remote riverside outpost on the edge of the Darien jungle that links Panama and Colombia.

Some had vague information — from relatives, social media, smugglers — about coming border policy changes by the United States government and were hustling to make it to that distant border.