Title 42 is a pandemic public health authority used to turn away the majority of illegal immigrants who come across the southern border.
Homeland security officials anticipate as many as 18,000 people a day could be encountered trying to enter the U.S. in the six weeks after Title 42 ends. The possibility is both an optics nightmare for Democrats and a national security concern.
More than half, 56%, of poll respondents oppose ending Title 42, according to an April 6 Morning Consult/Politico survey. The results make Biden’s decision his “most unpopular decision so far.”
Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire lives in a northern border state but visited the southern border in Arizona this past week, where she found that the Border Patrol still lacks the resources, including sufficient personnel, to manage the challenges resulting from the spike in illegal immigration at the start of the Biden administration.
“Our frontline personnel need significant, additional numbers, people, on the ground at the border. They need more technology.
They need access roads and, in some places, they need physical barriers,” Hassan told local news outlet News-9. “The administration really needs to step up here, develop a plan and get more resources to the southern border.”
Hassan was one of five Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and Mark Kelly of Arizona to co-introduce legislation blocking the Biden administration’s attempt to end Title 42. The bill would require a 60-day notice before ending it, as well as a plan submitted to Congress explaining how the government will handle it.
Six House Democrats, including Rep. Henry Cuellar from Texas, have introduced similar legislation.
“Arizona communities bear the brunt of the federal government’s failure at our border, so we’re stepping in and protecting border communities by ensuring the Administration works hand-in-hand with local leaders, law enforcement, and non-profits to put a comprehensive, workable plan in place before lifting Title 42,” said Sinema, chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Border Management, in a statement.
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