Our horrific border crisis demands that we keep Title 42's powers in place. Here's how we do it

The largest migrant caravan to ever enter the U.S. just crossed the southern border. What is President Biden’s response? To ask for more money just so border agents can process and release those illegal immigrants into American communities more efficiently.

The message to would-be migrants and the cartels that control their passage is clear — America’s border is wide open, come on across! And with that open border comes human traffickers and drug smugglers. In 2021, fentanyl smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico killed roughly 70,000 American residents, and that number will only be higher for 2022.

This is beyond a crisis — it’s a full-scale catastrophe. But as bad as things are now, they’re about to get much, much worse. Because on December 21, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan’s insane decision to block Title 42 enforcement will go into effect.

MANCHIN URGES WHITE HOUSE TO KEEP TITLE 42 BORDER POLICY IN PLACE

For almost three years, border patrol agents have relied on Title 42 powers to quickly remove illegal immigrants. It started under the Trump administration as an arrangement to restrict the spread of the coronavirus and limit the strain on America’s already-stressed public health infrastructure. For President Joe Biden to keep that arrangement in place would have been common sense, as border crossings soared to record-setting levels under his watch.

That is why even Democrats blasted Biden’s attempt to end Title 42 enforcement earlier this year. Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.V., called it a "frightening decision." Senators Mark Kelly, D-Ariz, and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., made similar comments. And Rep. Jared Golden, D-ME, introduced a bill to uphold Title 42 because its closure "would be dangerous for both migrants coming to America and Americans themselves."

Congress must act. President Biden may be asleep at the wheel, but if we work together, we can force his hand. 

Meanwhile, I worked with Senate Republicans to create our own proposal, which would extend Title 42 authority through February 2025, so no renegade judge or radical Biden bureaucrat could remove this vital tool from border agents.

Ultimately, growing political pressure and a rapidly rising number of border crossings — approaching a record two million in one year — forced Biden to go back on his campaign promise and keep Title 42 in place. 

BORDER OFFICIALS SEEING MASSIVE MIGRANT NUMBERS, LARGE GROUPS AHEAD OF TITLE 42’S END

Judge Sullivan’s ruling, however, changes things. It declares Title 42 enforcement illegal and demands that the administration end it by December 21. A Republican president would have appealed the decision, but President Biden doesn’t dare to draw fire from fanatical immigration activist groups. As a result, Biden officials are preparing to comply, despite having no plan to manage what will follow.

And what will follow is almost unthinkable. Already, more than 7,000 people per day cross the southern border illegally. If authorities lose expulsion powers, they believe that number will increase dramatically –– to perhaps as many as 18,000. That’s 18,000 people at the mercy of human traffickers; 18,000 people who may be carrying deadly opioids for cartels; 18,000 people who will flood the already overburdened hospitals, schools, and amenities of border communities. Every. Single. Day.

No country in the world can sustain that. I have the greatest compassion for men and women searching for a better life, but open borders do not help anyone. They didn’t help the 53 human beings who died like caged animals inside of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas this July. Nor do they help American citizens, one of whom dies roughly every seven minutes from a fentanyl overdose. The end of Title 42 will only bring more destruction.

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That is why Congress must act. President Biden may be asleep at the wheel, but if we work together, we can force his hand. Next year, Republicans in the House of Representatives will have new leverage to increase funding for border security and hold Biden administration officials accountable for their dereliction of duty. Republicans in the Senate need to work alongside them so we get it right.

The legacy media will cry foul, as will some Democrats. But this is the same media that ignored the border crisis for years, and these are the same Democrats looking to strike a lame-duck amnesty deal. They are part of the problem –– obstructionists standing in the way of doing what is right. 

Fortunately, maintaining Title 42 expulsion powers has been a bipartisan priority. Common-sense Democrats in the House and Senate should join forces with Republicans to protect our national security by extending those powers in the year-end funding bill.

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Without them, cartels and traffickers will trick even more vulnerable people into making the dangerous journey across our border. As the current flood turns into a tsunami, more people will slip across undetected, including terrorists. Border patrol has already stopped 98 people on our terrorist watch list this year, and those are just the ones who were caught. 

It would be insane to let Title 42 expire without enacting any plan to secure the border in its absence, all because an activist judge decided to legislate from the bench. Fortunately, in this instance, doing the right thing is not hard, and there is even bipartisan support for it. So let’s get it done.

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