After U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) and more than 50 of his Republican colleagues supported delaying President Joe Biden’s repeal of the public health authority known as Title 42, a federal judge in Louisiana on Monday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from repealing the pandemic immigration restriction.
“If Title 42 is repealed, we may very well see the worst of the border crisis, which will jeopardize public safety everywhere across our country,” Rep. Davis said in an April 26 statement. “Law enforcement at our southern border must get every legal tool and resource they need to fight this illegal immigration crisis and secure our border, and that includes Title 42.”
Title 42, which the Trump administration implemented in March 2020, permits authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border to turn back migrants to Mexico or their home countries due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. President Biden’s planned repeal of Title 42 was set for May 23.
Rep. Davis and his colleagues on April 19 submitted an amicus brief in support of the Title 42 injunction lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and other state attorneys general. The brief underscores that the Biden administration does not have a plan in place to prevent the surge in illegal immigration if Title 42 is repealed.
The Office of Intelligence in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security expects that one million migrants could cross the southern border within the first six weeks of ending Title 42, according to Rep. Davis’ office, with an anticipated surge of 18,000 migrants per day.
“President Biden refuses to face the reality of this disastrous illegal immigration crisis he created with his open border policies and rhetoric,” said Rep. Davis. “The president and his administration continue to make a bad situation at the border even worse.”