By Maegan Vazquez, CNN
(CNN) — President Joe Biden is under sustained pressure from both sides of the aisle over the administration’s handling of the expiration of Title 42, the controversial Trump-era pandemic public health restriction that became a key tool to turn back migrants at the US-Mexico border.
Title 42 was a public health order established early in the pandemic aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19 and allowed authorities to quickly deport migrants at US land borders. The measure expired at 11:59 PM ET on Thursday.
Now, US immigration agencies are reverting to decades-old protocols at a time of unprecedented mass migration in the Western Hemisphere.
As it faces the challenge, the administration has also pointed to additional authorities it is using after the expiration of Title 42, including expanding legal avenues and increasing resources at the border.
Biden faces the difficult task of proving he can control the border and handle an anticipated influx of migrants humanely, while navigating continued criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.
At midnight on Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that migrants should not “believe the lies of smugglers” as Title 42 had expired, and reiterated: ” The border is not open.” He said the country is “prepared to humanely prosecute and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the US.”
Mayorkas told “CNN This Morning” that the administration “has been planning for months.”
“Really, what this situation reflects is the fact that we’re operating under very severe constraints,” he told CNN’s Phil Mattingly on Friday morning, noting “a fundamentally broken immigration system that hasn’t been fixed for over two decades” and Congress. ‘ the refusal to provide the administration with more resources. He also blamed “a broken immigration system that was dismantled by the previous administration.”
“Our plan will take time, but our plan will succeed”
“I’ve been clear for months that the situation would be challenging. … I’ve also been very clear that we have confidence in our plan. That our plan will take time, but our plan will succeed.” Mayorkas told Mattingly.
The Department of Homeland Security previously released a six-pillar plan outlining its post-Title 42 operations, including creating additional facilities along the border to process migrants, strengthen transportation and lean on a fast-track deportation process known as “expedited removal.” “Administration officials still have confidence in that plan.
In addition, a new regulation that has gone into effect largely prohibits migrants who traveled through other countries on their way to the US-Mexico border from applying for asylum in the US.
While there are some exceptions, the new asylum rule generally applies to migrants who cross the US-Mexico border illegally. It does not apply to unaccompanied migrant children.
The asylum restrictions have drawn harsh criticism from immigrant rights advocates since they were proposed earlier this year and the rule is already facing legal challenges.
So is the administration sending an additional 1,500 active duty troops at the border and leaning on Mexico to help stem migration, in part by allowing the US to send certain non-Mexican migrants back to the border.
So far, the end of Title 42 has not led to an influx of migrants on the scale that some had feared. There was no “substantial increase overnight or midnight influx” of migrants after the end of Title 42, Undersecretary for Border and Immigration Policy Blas Nuñez-Neto. he told reporters on Friday.
However, in anticipation of a dramatic increase in migrant arrivals, a large number of communities, including border townsthe state of New York and the city of Chicago — have issued disaster declarations.
In addition to criticism from border cities and red-state governors, major-city leaders have voiced concerns, many of which have been targeted by GOP governors and officials from southern states sending busloads of migrants .
For example, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has been vocal in his calls for more help, saying the influx of migrants to his city and others in the Northeast should be managed by the federal government.
Members of both parties are unhappy
Biden faces criticism from both the left and the right in Washington over his administration’s handling of the US-Mexico border.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, R-Ariz., criticized the Biden administration over its handling of the policy’s expiration, calling for passage of her bill to give the administration new authority to expulsion at the border.
“The Administration’s lack of preparation for the end of Title 42 is unacceptable, and Arizona’s border communities are bearing the cost,” he said in the statement Thursday.
Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, expressed frustration that the administration cannot find a “workable solution to prevent an uncontrollable surge of migrants at our southern border.”
“While I do not support every provision, House Republicans are working on at least one border security bill to fill the leadership vacuum created by this Administration. Our country cannot maintain our superpower status if we can’t control our own border.” Manchin said in a statement Thursday.
Nevada Democratic Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, as well as Nevada Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, sent a letter to the president on Wednesday expressing “strong concern that the federal government is still insufficiently prepared for the reality that comes title 42″. an ending”.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a moderate Democrat from Texas, also criticized Biden’s shift in approach to the border issue, saying recently Politician“Politically, the president is now trying to move to the center when it comes to immigration policies, I think a little too late, but they’re moving to the center now.”
The end of Title 42 has also remained a target of intense criticism from conservatives.
The House of Representatives passed a border security bill this week that would restart construction of a border wall, increase funding for border agents and improve border technology, reinstate the “remain in Mexico” policy, impose new restrictions on asylum seekers and improve requirements for to eVerify, a database employers use to verify immigration status. The legislation, a wish list of House Republicans, is considered dead on arrival in the Senate, which has a Democratic majority. The White House has also issued a veto threat. Still, the House’s passage of the legislation serves as a message opportunity for one of the GOP’s signature priorities.
At a press conference Monday morning, GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott compared the expiration of Title 42 to rolling out a welcome mat to migrants from around the world, indicating that the America’s borders are wide open.
Texas Republican Rep. Pete Sessions compared the current situation of migrants to the chaotic and deadly US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
“Congress has been in this situation for quite some time, but we still have to be concerned about the lives and safety of the men and women of law enforcement, of the border patrol that are there, and for more two years we’ve had dangerous conditions along the border,” Sessions said on “CNN This Morning” Friday. “This could be done very differently, the way Donald Trump did it, well maybe, but that’s not my point. What I’m saying is that this is as chaotic as Afghanistan was.”
However, the return to the decades-old protocol carries more legal consequences for migrants who cross the US-Mexico border illegally.
Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro said on “The Lead with Jake Tapper” that Republicans’ concerns about a crisis-level influx of migrants coming to the United States have so far been exaggerated.
“My fellow Republicans, the way they’re describing this is total chaos. ‘It’s the end of the world.’ And you see, I think everybody recognizes today that it hasn’t been,” Castro said, acknowledging that they can still happen new climbs along the way.
“As a country we are capable, and have been for generations, of managing migration in a safe, orderly and effective way when we dedicate the resources to it,” he added.
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