President Joe Biden is plotting an end to border controls that experts have said have kept a lid on a wave of unprecedented illegal immigration. The border controls, polls have shown, are overwhelmingly popular with Americans.
Biden administration officials and those familiar with the plans told the Wall Street Journal that the president is planning to end use of the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Title 42 order for migrant families arriving at the United States-Mexico border while keeping it in place, for the time being, for single adult border crossers.
Title 42 is a critical border control that has kept nearly 650,000 border crossers out of the U.S., allowing federal immigration officials to quickly return border crossers to their native country for the sake of public health.
The Journal reports:
The Biden administration is preparing to enact major policy changes at the southern border this summer as officials gradually lift a public-health emergency order that allows immigration agents to turn away most migrants crossing the border illegally, according to administration officials and others familiar with the discussions. [Emphasis added]
The pandemic-era emergency order, known as Title 42, prevents people who illegally enter the U.S. from seeking asylum, instead immediately expelling them to Mexico. The administration plans to stop applying the emergency order to migrant families by the end of July, these people said. Once the order is lifted, families that requested asylum at the border will be permitted to remain in the U.S. for the duration of their cases, which can take years to complete. [Emphasis added]
…
The administration plans eventually to end the emergency public-health order, but government officials for the next few months plan to continue using it to turn away single adults, who currently make up the majority of those attempting illegal border crossings, the people said. [Emphasis added]
At the same time, the Biden administration is looking at reopening the northern and southern borders to nonessential travel, which was shut down last year in the midst of the Chinese coronavirus crisis, according to the Journal.
In October 2020, seven months after former President Donald Trump first implemented Title 42, about 91 percent of border crossers apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border were being removed using the border control.
Today, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is only using Title 42 in about 64 percent of border crosser cases — a 30 percent drop.
Biden’s ending of Title 42 would be in stark contrast to the opinions of most registered American voters. A Harvard/Harris Poll released late last month found that about 2-in-3 voters want Trump’s border controls reinstated, specifically a policy that allows federal immigration officials to immediately return border crossers to Mexico.
The poll also shows that 64 percent of voters said Biden ought to “issue new, stricter policies to reduce the flow of people across the border,” while just 36 percent said the administration should continue its existing massive Catch and Release operation.
A majority of about 55 percent of voters said Biden should have kept Trump’s border and immigration controls that resulted in less illegal immigration, increased interior immigration enforcement, and thus a tighter labor market with boosted U.S. wages.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.