Sen. Marco Rubio on Thursday introduced a bill to Congress that would extend the Title 42 border protections put into effect in March 2020. Joe Biden announced on Monday his administration’s decision to reverse the public health order that allows U.S. Department of Homeland Security to quickly expel migrants at the border due to health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rubio’s bill aims to extend the border protections, which have yet to be fully rescinded, until February 2025. The Florida Senator is utilizing what is known as “Rule 14,” allowing the piece of legislation to bypass committee meetings and be placed directly on the Senate calendar.
“Rescinding Title 42 may be Biden’s biggest mistake thus far, and that is a really long list,” Rubio said. “With this action, he is opening our borders and inviting a massive surge of illegal immigration – likely the biggest in U.S. history – that will inflict a lasting and avoidable crisis onto our nation. Ending Title 42 enforcement is reckless, dangerous, and puts our communities in harm’s way.”
Lawmakers claim that a Title 42 reversal would result in an overwhelming surge of migrants that southern states do not have the capacity to deal with, fearful of the proliferation of an already occurring migrant crisis in southern states.
“Based on what I am being told by officials in South & Central America, expect Biden’s decision to end Title 42 to lead to the biggest migration crisis in U.S. history,” said Sen. Marco Rubio. “It’s not just what Title 42 technically does, it’s what migrants think getting rid of it means.” According to reports, Biden administration officials are anticipating a mass migration event once Title 42 officially.
As of this writing, Title 42 is officially planned to be eliminated on May 23, as the Center for Disease Control claims that migrants apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border have ceased to be a serious danger to public health.
“Joe Biden’s reckless border policies have allowed more than 2 million foreigners to enter our country illegally via the southern border,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis. “Revoking Title 42 authority will supercharge the already skyrocketing flow of illegal aliens, increasing drug, human, and sex trafficking. Biden is failing miserably to faithfully execute the law and is violating his oath of office.”
On March 12, the Center for Disease Control announced it was dropping Title 42 for unaccompanied children, but left the policy in place for others migrants, according to NPR.
In a letter to DHS last week, a group of Republican senators, led by Rick Scott, asked about the agency’s preparations for “the anticipated surge of illegal border crossings.”
“This administration’s open border policies are fueling deadly criminal activity and horrific abuses by the barbaric cartels facilitating those illegal border crossings, including reports of sex trafficking, torture, and forced labor,” reads the letter. “The Department should be focused on securing our borders, enforcing all immigration laws, and providing all necessary resources to CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain and remove all who violate our laws.”