Biden Ends Border Asylum Limits, Democrats Divided

President Joe Biden announced he would end COVID-era asylum limits, a move that lawmakers of both parties fear could lead to a surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.

Summary

President Joe Biden announced he would repeal Title 42, the COVID-era asylum limits, a move that lawmakers of both parties fear could lead to a surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.

• The Trump administration invoked Title 42 during the pandemic’s early days, which authorizes the US government to promptly deport migrants to control the spread of COVID-19 in border facilities and protect US personnel. Migrants expelled under Title 42 can be deported in a matter of hours, with most sent back to Mexico or on deportation flights to their home countries.
• Biden’s repeal is set to take effect May 23, and the Department of Homeland Security expects 18,000 migrants could arrive at the border daily once the policy expires.
• Senate Republicans demanded the $10 billion supplemental COVID funding bill working its way through the Senate be tied to a vote on border security in light of Biden’s Title 42 repeal.
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) argued that any pandemic-related measure must include a vote on preserving the Trump-era emergency immigration restrictions put in place due to the pandemic.
• Three states with Republican attorneys general – Arizona, Missouri, and Louisiana – sued the Biden administration to stop Title 42 repeal, claiming its repeal will lead to “unmitigated chaos and catastrophe.”
• The four most vulnerable Senate Democrats – Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ),  Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), the first Latina Senator, have all spoken out against Biden’s plan.
• Sen. Cortez Masto said, “This is the wrong way to do this and it will leave the administration unprepared for a surge at the border.”

• Politico wrote that Arizona Democratic Senator “Mark Kelly’s breaks with Biden pile up” as the vulnerable Democrat distances himself from Biden’s policies on labor, drilling, and immigration ahead of a tough reelection bid in November.
• CNN covered the divisions among Democrats due to Biden’s recission of Title 42 and Republicans’ tough questions for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas when he addressed the GOP border security caucus Tuesday.
• Mother Jones hit Biden from the left, interviewing Democratic senators to question why his administration has kept Title 42 in place as long as they have.

• Fox News found another Democratic senator opposed to Biden’s Title 42 repeal: Montana Sen. Jon Tester. A total of seven Senate Democrats have now broken with the president on this policy.
• National Review covered the response from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to Biden’s immigration moves. McCarthy said Biden “will own the calamity” at the southern border once Title 42 is repealed.
• Breitbart rounded up statements from all the vulnerable and red-state Democrats coming out against Biden’s plans to end Title 42, including Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH).

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© Dominic Moore, 2022