Since taking office, Joe Biden and his Washington Democrat allies have increasingly incentivized illegal immigration by changing effective border security policies put in place by the Trump administration. Now, Joe Biden and Washington Democrats want to make a bad problem worse.
Last week, President Biden announced he would be ending President Trump’s Title 42 Border Security program, which allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deport illegal aliens if they pose a public health danger to our citizens – something not just limited to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is unacceptable. Since President Biden took office, we have had almost 3 million encounters between illegal aliens and officers protecting the border. Just like with their attempts to eliminate and now not enforce President Trump’s remain-in-Mexico policy, with the elimination of Title 42, it’s anticipated that illegal crossings at the border will spike. In fact, DHS officials acknowledged this decision could lead to as many as 18,000 migrants entering U.S. custody daily, unable to be expedited quickly.
This will have catastrophic consequences for our border security. Between March 2020 and January 2021, 83 percent of the 552,919 migrants apprehended were turned away under Title 42. During the Biden administration, 63 percent of the 2,276,871 migrant arrests resulted in Title 42 expulsions. This means that even under Joe Biden’s lax border security policies, over 1.4 million migrants who crossed the border illegally would not have been deported quickly if this new policy had been in effect.
Beyond the devastating outcomes this policy will have on our border security, the message this action sends to American citizens is equally offensive. Washington Democrats are saying that illegal immigrants entering our country should be held to a lower health standard than they themselves want to hold American health care workers, federal employees, or federal contractors – all of whom are required to be fully vaccinated to be employed.
The double standards don’t stop there. Washington Democrats believe the public health threat is so significant that not all federal employees are required to report to their jobs; that members of Congress should be able to give their right away to vote on behalf of their constituents to another Member (which I’ll never do); and that wealthy elites who have student loans (and hence higher lifetime earnings) should be shielded from repaying them. But apparently it’s not significant enough to prevent a flood of untested, potentially unvaccinated illegal immigrants from poring across our border. These double standards sicken me to my core.
Missourians and Americans deserve leaders in Washington who understand the threat the crisis at our Southern border poses to our safety and our families. That’s why I’ve co-authored H.R. 471, the Protecting Americans from Unnecessary Spread upon Entry from COVID-19 (PAUSE) Act, which would prevent the administration from ending Title 42. This week my Republican colleagues and I were blocked 70 times from debating this commonsense legislation on the House floor by Speaker Pelosi’s majority
Once this policy ends, it won’t take long until we fully lose track of the situation. I confronted Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra this week about how HHS was spending our tax dollars to transport illegal immigrants across the country after they arrive in America, and got him to admit that this is the administration’s policy. This policy has already cost taxpayers $2.7 billion this year to move illegal aliens throughout our country, after spending $6.9 billion last year. What a waste. Instead of chartering flights on private jets for illegal aliens, maybe we ought to continue using our existing policies to get them back to their home country as quickly as possible.
Equally as disturbing, I pressed the White House Office of Management & Budget about its plans for the almost $2 billion Congress continues to allocate for border wall construction on a bipartisan basis. The response? That it would be used for “community consultation” and “environmental restoration” along our border. Give me a break.
President Biden and Washington Democrats have made their priorities loud and clear. Under their leadership, illegal immigration is being encouraged. This administration has no plan to deal with the Biden Border Crisis because an open border is what they want. I will be fighting to demand that we reinstate Title 42 and the successful Trump immigration policies that helped create a more secure border.
