The Biden administration’s decision to end the public health emergency power that permitted the deportation of roughly 1.7 million migrants because of the pandemic is being questioned by Democrats before the 2022 midterm elections.
The decision to end Title 42 in May, which the White House has repeatedly attributed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coincides with an anticipated worst-case-scenario surge of up to 18,000 border crossings a day as migrants take advantage of warmer weather before the fall elections.
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West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin joined border state centrist colleagues Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona in describing the Biden administration’s decision to end Title 42 as “frightening.” But Manchin skipped over the political ramifications, instead focusing on the administration’s lack of preparedness when some 60,000 people are estimated to be waiting in northern Mexico.
“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,” Manchin said Friday, shortly after the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department officially announced the decision following days of speculation as other COVID-19 restrictions ease.
Kelly, who is fighting a tough first reelection campaign, and Sinema, an unreliable vote for President Joe Biden, have been pushing the administration to develop a post-Title 42 strategy and deploy the necessary resources since last summer after border communities, law enforcement, and nonprofit organizations reported being strained. DHS says it has. Kelly and Sinema disagree.
Though opposed to Title 42’s indefinite use, Kelly called the decision “wrong.” “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,” he said.
In the joint statement, Sinema added that the decision demonstrated “a lack of understanding about the crisis at our border.” “Prematurely ending Title 42 without a comprehensive, workable plan would put at risk the health and safety of Arizona communities and migrants,” she said.
Kelly, Manchin, and Sinema are at odds with the White House and many of their Democratic colleagues, who appear undeterred by the predictable Republican border attacks before the midterm elections. Activists have criticized Title 42 as an immigration measure disguised as a public health authority preventing migrants from applying for asylum.
In response to the decision, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel charged Biden with overseeing “the worst border crisis in DHS history.” The GOP has an almost 4 percentage-point average advantage on generic congressional ballots before November, according to RealClearPolitics.
“At every opportunity, Biden has enacted policies that open our southern border, empower drug smugglers and human traffickers, and make American communities less safe,” McDaniel said. “By removing Title 42, Biden’s doubling down on his commitment to actively worsening the crisis he created.”
Polls indicate that Republicans tend to care more about the border than Democrats, but a growing number of people told Gallup last month they want less immigration. More than a third told pollsters they would prefer less immigration, almost double from 19% in 2021.
The decision to end Title 42, first introduced at U.S. land borders in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump, is poised to be “a disaster politically” for Democrats as they lose suburban and Hispanic support, according to Republican strategist Cesar Conda.
“It simply reinforces the narrative that they will not secure our border and stop illegal immigration,” Conda told the Washington Examiner.
“In the long run, the only thing that will reduce illegal entry is more legal avenues for people to enter the U.S. and work,” added Conda, the former chief of staff to Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio when he was working on comprehensive immigration reform in 2013.
Conda has at least one ally on Capitol Hill: Manchin.
“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,” Manchin said Friday.
DHS has relied on Title 42 to deport migrants whom U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement would have most likely held in congregate settings during the pandemic. CBP expelled more than 91,500 migrants last month using the emergency power, slightly more than in January.
The White House defended the decision Friday, particularly its staggered rollout, after first making an exception for unaccompanied children in August. Title 42 will not be fully rescinded until May 23, giving DHS time to vaccinate migrants against COVID-19.
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“It was always going to be important to have an implementation period, and the timeline reflects that,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
