OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Democrat West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is furious with President Joe Biden after the president decided to appeal Title 42.
Title 42 is a directive from the administration of former President Donald Trump that allowed for rapid deportation of undocumented migrants during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Today’s announcement by the CDC and the Biden Administration is a frightening decision,” he said. “Title 42 has been an essential tool in combatting the spread of COVID-19 and controlling the influx of migrants at our southern border. We are already facing an unprecedented increase in migrants this year, and that will only get worse if the Administration ends the Title 42 policy. We are nowhere near prepared to deal with that influx. Until we have comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that commits to securing our borders and providing a pathway to citizenship for qualified immigrants, Title 42 must stay in place.”
Earlier in the week the senator called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky to extend Title 42.
“In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, encounters with migrants reached an all-time high of 1.7 million people. That is four times higher than the 400,000 encounters reported the previous year, and we are on pace to set a new record again this year. Through the first five months of FY22, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has experienced more than 838,000 migrant encounters. Unfortunately, due to annual migration patterns, those numbers are only expected to increase during the upcoming spring and summer months,” the senator said.
“The current Order under Title 42 suspending the right to introduce certain persons into the United States has been an important tool in combatting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. With encounters along our southern border surging and the highly-transmissible Omicron BA.2 subvariant emerging as the dominate strain in the United States, now is not the time to throw caution to the wind. I urge you to again renew this commonsense policy that has been in effect—under both Republican and Democratic Administrations—since March 2020,” he said.
He was joined by fellow Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema who warned that it would “risk the health and safety” of her constituents.
“Prematurely ending Title 42 without a comprehensive, workable plan would put at risk the health and safety of Arizona communities and migrants. Today’s decision to announce an end to Title 42 despite not yet having a comprehensive plan ready shows a lack of understanding about the crisis at our border,” she said.
And they were joined by her fellow Democrat Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly who had a similar warning.
“This is the wrong decision. It’s unacceptable to end Title 42 without a plan and coordination in place to ensure a secure, orderly, and humane process at the border,” the senator said.
“From my numerous visits to the southern border and conversations with Arizona’s law enforcement, community leaders, mayors, and non-profits, it’s clear that this administration’s lack of a plan to deal with this crisis will further strain our border communities,” he said.
New Hampshire Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan also argued against the decision by the president.
“Ending Title 42 prematurely will likely lead to a migrant surge that the administration does not appear to be ready for,” the senator said.
“I’ll keep pushing the administration to strengthen border security & look forward to hearing directly from border agents during my upcoming trip to the border,” she said.
But it was to no avail as the CDC director made her decision on Friday to end Title 42.
“I hereby determine that the danger of further introduction, transmission or spread of Covid-19 into the United States from covered noncitizens, as defined in the August order, has ceased to be a serious danger to the public health,” she said.
