Dem Rep. Escobar: Title 42 Helps Make Border ‘More Unmanageable’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) argued that “as we have shrunken legal pathways” to come to the U.S. over the past few decades, including through Title 42, “we should not be shocked or surprised that the border becomes more and more unmanageable.”

Escobar stated, “Congress has really been derelict in its responsibility on this issue. I know there [have] been a lot of conversations about what the Biden administration should do. And certainly, the administration has a responsibility. But it has been decades since Congress has enacted any form of immigration reform. The closest we came was in 2013, and the far-right members of the Republican Party, those members in the Tea Party, some of whom are still here in Congress today, complaining about this issue, they derailed those plans for comprehensive immigration reform. Now, changing laws will not address this issue altogether, but I do think it’s really important to understand that, as we have shrunken legal pathways over the decades, and in fact, Title 42 eliminates one of those legal pathways, asylum, we should not be shocked or surprised that the border becomes more and more unmanageable. In fact, the current situation, for many of my Republican colleagues, it works fine. It gives them talking points. Title 42 basically inflates numbers. Because, when you look at those numbers, you’ve also got to recognize that about — anywhere between 30 to 50% of those numbers come from what are called recidivists, people who are making multiple attempts.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett