Three Republican states have sued the Biden administration to prevent the repeal of the Title 42 policy, a public-health measure that has allowed U.S. border agents to immediately expel illegal border crossers.
The suit claims that the administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act when terminating the policy. Attorneys general Mark Brnovich of Arizona and Eric Schmitt of Missouri, along with Louisiana solicitor general Elizabeth Murrill, signed on to the suit.
“This suit challenges an imminent, man-made, self-inflicted calamity: the abrupt elimination of the only safety valve preventing this Administration’s disastrous border policies from devolving into an unmitigated chaos and catastrophe,” the lawsuit, first reported by Fox News, states in its introduction.
Title 42 was implemented under President Trump in response to the Covid pandemic and was renewed by President Biden in August. Republicans and moderate Democrats have warned that its repeal could lead to new surges in illegal border crossings once it takes effect on May 23. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported over 164,000 migrant encounters at the southern border in February, with 55 percent of those migrants immediately expelled under Title 42.
“We want to stop the Biden administration from rescinding Title 42 because it may be one of the most boneheaded decisions of this administration, and they have done a lot of dumb things,” Brnovich told Fox & Friends on Monday. “I’m doing everything I can to hold the Biden administration accountable and stop them from destroying our southern border.”
U.S. Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz said last Tuesday that border agents would soon reach 1 million migrant encounters since the start of the fiscal year in October.
“Probably in the next two or three days we’ll get over a million encounters or apprehensions along the southwest border,” Ortiz said.
Border agents recorded over 1.7 million migrant encounters during the fiscal year 2020-2021, according to U.S. CBP data.