Nine Senate Democrats Blast Biden’s Move to Axe Title 42

Nine Senate Democrats and many Democrat Senate candidates have pushed back against President Joe Biden’s move to rescind Title 42, a public health authority that allows the federal government to deport illegal aliens and border crossers.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), criticized Biden’s move to rescind Title 42. Peters is also the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which covers border issues.

“Unless we have a well-thought-out plan, I think it is something that should be revisited and perhaps delayed. I’m going to defer judgment on that until I give the administration the opportunity to fully articulate what that plan is. But I share … concerns of some of my colleagues,” Peters said on Monday.

1. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)
2. Joe Manchin (D-WV)
3. Jon Tester (D-MT)
4. Gary Peters (D-MI)
5. Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
6. Raphael Warnock (D-GA)
7. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
8. Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
9. Chris Coons (D-DE)

Sinema, Tester, and Manchin also co-sponsored bipartisan legislation that would delay Biden’s ending of Title 42.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), left, walks with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), with Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) behind them at center, after attending a Democratic policy luncheon, on November 16, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin, File / AP)

Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) have criticized the decision to rescind Title 42 and are up for reelection this year.

“In the region where I’m from, we’re seeing infections rise. I think Philadelphia, for example, just returned to a mask mandate. So my hope is that that will be reconsidered appropriately,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a close ally of Biden’s, said on Sunday.

Despite the growing Senate Democrat opposition to rescinding Title 42, many Democrat leaders have demanded an end to Title 42. These include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Democrat Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), left, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), center, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wait before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

Democrat Senate candidates have also railed against the move to end Title 42.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) said, “We should not end Title 42 until we have a detailed plan in place. And look, we don’t only need a long-term and detailed plan here for ending Title 42, but we still need to fix our broken immigration system as a whole.”

 A spokeswoman for Cheri Beasley, the leading Senate Democrat candidate in North Carolina, said Beasley “believes that it is not the right time to lift this policy, especially without a plan in place to deal with a potential influx in migrants.”

Newly arrived migrants wait to enter the intake area at the Donna Processing Center, run by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool/AP)

Wisconsin state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, who hopes to unseat Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), said, “There needs to be a plan, and right now it doesn’t look like the administration has one. Until there is a plan, for the safety of our citizens and those seeking asylum, they should not lift it.”