An order issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) last year, known as Title 42, to prevent the spread of the Chinese coronavirus, is “now the only policy ensuring the southern border is not immediately rushed,” a number of House Republicans say.
In a letter to President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a group of 52 House Republicans warns that a rush at the United States-Mexico border could ensue if the White House continues rolling back border controls and reforms as it has done over the last three weeks.
“Based on information from sources on the ground, this week Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have seen the average daily flow soar to more than 3,500 migrants, up from 2,000 earlier last month,” the House Republicans write:
Border Patrol’s 21-day average has risen to nearly 3,000. The number of unaccompanied minors illegally entering our borders is closing in on 300 per day. CBP hasn’t seen numbers like this since the height of the immigration crisis in the summer of 2019. CBP has already encountered over 200,000 illegal migrants since October and numbers are rising. For context, in the first three months of fiscal year 2020, CBP encountered 128,347. [Emphasis added]
…
The increasing rate of illegal migration was foreseeable. Even before your inauguration, illegal migration numbers were increasing with the transition to your administration and anticipated policies. During the first three months of fiscal year 2021, the number of single adult migrants encountered by Border Patrol increased 178 percent to 180,633 compared to the same period the year before, and encounters with Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) increased 50 percent. In Texas, Border Patrol agents in the Laredo Border Patrol Sector have arrested over 1,200 migrants in stash houses since October – this is a 436 percent increase compared to the same period last year. [Emphasis added]
The House Republicans write that despite the rising number of apprehensions, Biden signed a series of executive orders to dismantle border controls and reforms “that were working as intended to halt the flow of illegal migration.”
Specifically, these include stopping the construction of border wall, ending cooperative asylum agreements with Central America, suspending the anti-fraud Remain in Mexico policy, seeking to halt nearly all deportations for at least 100 days, and crippling interior immigration enforcement.
The House Republicans write that the rescission of these policies “have all communicated that our borders are open” to the world’s migrants.
What remains, the House Republicans write, is the CDC’s Title 42 order which was enacted early last year for the specific purpose of stopping the spread of the coronavirus into the U.S. The order gives federal immigration officials broad authority to immediately return border crossers over public health concerns.
The policy has been so effective that in June 2020, federal immigration officials were immediately returning about 95 percent of border crossers to their native countries. The House Republicans say Biden’s suggestion that he may end the order would spur a rush at the border. The letter states:
Notably, the Trump administration’s policy to use 42 U.S. Code § 265 is perhaps now the only policy ensuring the southern border is not immediately rushed. Unfortunately, however, just last week, you signed another Executive Order threatening the longevity of this crucial policy. If title 42 is indeed rescinded, the daily illegal flow will become catastrophic overnight.
The House Republicans who signed the letter include:
- Chip Roy (R-TX)
- Liz Cheney (R-WY)
- Andy Biggs (R-AZ)
- Yvette Herrell (R-NM)
- Ted Budd (R-NC)
- Michael Cloud (R-TX)
- Warren Davidson (R-OH)
- Jim Hagedorn (R-MN)
- Pete Sessions (R-TX)
- Gregory Murphy (R-NC)
- Brian Babin (R-TX)
- Mark Green (R-TN)
- Scott Perry (R-PA)
- Jodey Arrington (R-TX)
- Kelly Armstrong (R-ND)
- Mike Garcia (R-CA)
- Dan Crenshaw (R-TX)
- Michael Burgess (R-TX)
- Jody Hice (R-GA)
- Ann Wagner (R-MO)
- Mo Brooks (R-TN)
- Ralph Norman (R-SC)
- Dan Meuser (R-PA)
- Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)
- Ben Cline (R-VA)
- Bob Good (R-VA)
- Lauren Boebert (R-CO)
- Bill Posey (R-FL)
- Andy Harris (R-MD)
- Michael Guest (R-MS)
- Glenn Grothman (R-WI)
- James Baird (R-IN)
- Jack Bergman (R-MI)
- Tom Tiffany (R-WI)
- Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
- Jeff Duncan (R-SC)
- Rick Crawford (R-AR)
- Kat Cammack (R-FL)
- Bob Gibbs (R-OH)
- Barry Moore (R-AL)
- August Pfluger (R-TX)
- Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
- Ken Calvert (R-CA)
- Kevin Hern (R-OK)
- Burgess Owens (R-UT)
- Ronny Jackson (R-TX)
- Beth Van Duyne (R-TX)
- Lance Gooden (R-TX)
- Scott DesJarlais (R-TN)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Byron Donalds (R-FL)
- Ken Buck (R-CO)
The full letter can be read here:
GOP Letter to Biden by John Binder
Biden’s ending of a number of border controls and reforms has had a devastating impact at the border. As Breitbart News reported, the administration has restarted the Catch and Release program whereby border crossers, untested for the coronavirus, are apprehended and then released into the U.S. interior.
Unofficial catch and release totals suggest, just in the last week, that federal immigration officials have released more than 1,000 border crossers into the U.S. interior. There is no requirement for border crossers to be tested for the coronavirus before their release.
The policies are at great odds with the majority of American voters. In exit polling following the 2020 presidential election, about 5-in-6 voters said closed U.S. borders were vital to slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com.
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