(NewsNation) — The Biden administration is preparing for a surge in encounters at the southern U.S. border when Title 42 restrictions end that could see an estimated 300,000 migrants cross in the span of six weeks.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a news conference Thursday he “expect(s) that encounters at our southern border will increase.”

He told reporters “smugglers are seeking to take advantage of this change” and are already “hard at work spreading disinformation that the border will be open after that.”

Title 42, which expires May 11, was a provision in the 1944 Public Health Service Act allowing the federal government to ban people from entering the country in the case of a pandemic. In March 2020, as COVID-19 infections began to rise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention enacted the rule under former President Donald Trump.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a conference call with law enforcement Wednesday that it is anticipating encounters will likely range from 280,000 to 300,000 from May 11 to June 23. There were just under 192,000 encounters in March, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

The El Paso sector is expected to be impacted the most, with an estimated 77,000 encounters in the six weeks after the expiration of Title 42.

Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday that processing centers will be set up in Latin America in an effort to reduce the number of people coming into the United States.

Despite the expected increase, Mayorkas said, “Let me be clear: Our border is not open, and will not be open after May 11.”

NewsNation producer Len Tepper contributed to this report.