BIDEN TRAPPED ON BORDER. There is word that President Joe Biden is looking for a way out of his decision to end Title 42, the Trump-era regulation that allows U.S. authorities to turn back illegal crossers at the U.S.-Mexico border on the grounds of protecting the country from COVID. Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced that Title 42 will be repealed on May 23.

But now Axios reports Biden is wavering in that decision. Top aides are discussing the possibility of delaying repeal. The reason is obvious. Administration officials predict ending Title 42 will result in a flood of illegal crossers arriving at the border — as many as 18,000 each day, according to a scenario from the Department of Homeland Security. The administration will no longer have the means to turn them away on public health grounds and does not have the resolve to turn them away by simply enforcing immigration law or requiring them to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims are considered. And the midterm elections are coming with Democrats already in deep trouble and voters unhappy with the administration’s handling of the border.