President Joe Biden’s administration plans to end Title 42, the emergency public health rule that has permitted the United States to turn away migrants because of the pandemic, in May, just before the number of illegal border crossings typically increases in the warmer months.
The latest extension of Title 42, implemented by former President Donald Trump, was due to expire on March 31. Biden told reporters earlier Wednesday that “we’ll have a decision on that soon” when asked whether the rule would be retained again.
White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield was adamant that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was responsible for deciding whether to keep Title 42 or not instead.
“It is not an immigration or migration enforcement measure, so the decision on when to lift Title 42, we defer to the CDC,” she said Wednesday afternoon.
BIDEN BILLIONAIRE TAX FACES OBSTACLES IN CONGRESS AHEAD OF MIDTERM ELECTIONS
Bedingfield did not confirm Title 42 would end on May 23, based on reports of a draft order, but she conceded the White House has “every expectation” its removal will result in “an influx of people to the border.”
“We are doing a lot of work to plan for that contingency,” she said. “The Department of Homeland Security did a briefing, walking through some of the planning that they’re doing to increase efficiency to ensure that we have the capacity to ensure that we are operating in a way that is treating migrants humanely fairly.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In each month of the past year, U.S. border officials have made between 150,000 and 215,000 encounters with migrants attempting to enter the country without permission.
