On April 4, we noted that the Biden administration had just announced the cessation–effective May 23–of the CDC’s Title 42, the public health measure that permits immediate removal of illegal migrants back to Mexico.
Over the past two years, Title 42 has been used for 1.6 million expulsions. The measure served the Trump administration particularly well, at its height allowing the removal of fully 95 percent of illegals. Joe Biden, of course, sworn enemy of all things Trump, hates the policy and has wanted to abolish it from the get-go. In fact, without outright abandoning it, he has seriously reduced its level of enforcement. Nowadays, barely more than half of illegals (about 52 percent) who could be removed are being removed. The remaining half are admitted under a variety of statuses, with a variety of “requirements” that are laxly enforced.
Nevertheless, 52 percent is not nothing, and the mere fact that one might be included in that unfortunate number is enough to discourage some would-be asylees from trying. Currently, about 8,000 migrants are caught illegally crossing the southern border every day. With the upcoming removal of a Title 42 expulsion threat, estimates–even those confirmed by the White House–are that that number may swell to 18,000 (or even, according to some, as many as 30,000).
The numbers have begun to frighten even some Democrats. Five Senate Democrats (Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire) have signed on as co-sponsors of a bill blocking Title 42 cessation. In the House, six Dems (Tom O’Halleran [D-AZ], Jared Golden [D-ME], Stephanie Murphy [D-FL], Chris Pappas [D-NH], Greg Stanton [D-AZ], and Henry Cuellar [D-TX]) are co-sponsoring similar legislation.
Continuing Republican support for Title 42 merely helps the Biden administration hide [Democratic] radicalism from voters. — Mark Krikorian, CIS
So will Title 42 go away?
At no time soon, predicts Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). In a posting on CIS.org dated today, he writes:
I’m willing to bet a car payment that the CDC will discover new variants over the next month (is there a Pi Variant yet? Rho? Psi?) and that Title 42 expulsions are still going to be conducted on May 24.
But Krikorian goes on to ask, “Why are Republicans helping Biden” by campaigning to continue Title 42, which under Biden is nothing more than “a crutch to avoid actually enforcing actual immigration law.” He understands why 21 Republican state attorneys general are suing to retain the program, but “this is a case of ‘worse is better.’ Denial of the Title 42 crutch would force the administration either to own the results of its immigration radicalism, or abandon it. Only that way can we ever address the ‘root cause’ of the border crisis, which is located in the White House.”