Moderate Democrats Sound Alarm as Biden Repeals Title 42 amid Border Crisis

Several Democratic senators have voiced opposition to the Biden administration’s repeal of the Title 42 policy, which allowed border agents to immediately expel illegal border crossers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publicly announced the repeal of Title 42 on Friday. The order, originally introduced by the Trump administration to slow the spread of Covid, was rescinded “after considering current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19,” the CDC said in a statement.

Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) called the decision “frightening” in a statement on Friday.

“We are already facing an unprecedented increase in migrants this year, and that will only get worse if the Administration ends the Title 42 policy. We are nowhere near prepared to deal with that influx,” Manchin said in a statement. “Until we have comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that commits to securing our borders and providing a pathway to citizenship for qualified immigrants, Title 42 must stay in place.”

The implementation of the repeal will be delayed until May 23. However, Senator Maggie Hassan (D., N.H.) warned that the Biden administration “does not appear to be ready” for a potential influx of migrants once the repeal goes into effect.

“Ending Title 42 prematurely will likely lead to a migrant surge that the administration does not appear to be ready for,” Hassan said in a Twitter post. “I’ll keep pushing the administration to strengthen border security & look forward to hearing directly from border agents during my upcoming trip to the border.”

Arizona senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, both Democrats, also criticized the repeal of Title 42 on Friday.

Kelly said that the repeal “is the wrong decision,” in a statement to Fox News. “It’s unacceptable to end Title 42 without a plan and coordination in place to ensure a secure, orderly, and humane process at the border.”

“Prematurely ending Title 42 without a comprehensive, workable plan would put at risk the health and safety of Arizona communities,” Sinema said in her own statement. “Today’s decision to announce an end to Title 42…shows a lack of understanding about the crisis at our border.”

Both senators wrote to President Biden in a letter on March 24 saying they “have not yet seen evidence that DHS has developed and implemented a sufficient plan to maintain a humane and orderly process in the event of an end to Title 42.”

Senator Mark Warner (D., Va.) previously voiced concerns over the repeal in comments to CNN on Wednesday.

“I would be very reluctant for the administration to end this Trump policy until we had a real plan in place. I think we are a generous country, but we have to be a country of rule of law,” Warner said.

A record 2 million illegal immigrants crossed the border during Biden’s first year in office and the surge is expected to intensify after Title 42 is repealed.