Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I., Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) plan to propose a replacement to the Trump-era Title 42 program, which expires on May 11.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) told reporters Wednesday the program’s end is “like being hit by a slow-moving truck in Kansas.”
The expiration of the program has officials concerned about an unmanageable surge of migrants at the Southern border, with some estimating 10,000 migrants crossing per day. On Tuesday, it was announced that President Joe Biden would dispatch 1,500 soldiers to assist CBP efforts following a Department of Homeland Security request.
Sinema and Tillis plan to announce a temporary two-year authority to expel migrants from the United States, similar to what is currently allowed under Title 42 — a law that permits the U.S. to deny asylum and migration claims based on public health reasons.
The Sinema-Tillis program would differ from the Trump-era policy — which Biden has continued until now — because it will not rely upon a public health order, a Sinema aide told Politico. The legislation would provide protections for those who have serious and legitimate asylum claims, and it will also protect individuals with acute medical needs.
Outside of the delineated exceptions, migrants would be promptly expelled to Mexico. If Mexico does not accept them, the bill would provide for returning migrants to their home countries — or another country willing to receive them.
The move comes after Senate Republicans pleaded with the president to let the program continue. “We shudder to think about how much worse the situation at the border would have been over the past three years had it not been for the deterrent effect of Title 42,” read a statement.
The program was originally supposed to end last May, but the administration became embroiled in a court battle and agreed to let it continue until it lifted its emergency declaration for the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a rule entitled Circumvention of Lawful Pathways, in which a rebuttable presumption of asylum ineligibility would be introduced for certain noncitizens who neither avail themselves of a lawful, safe, and orderly pathway to the United States nor seek asylum or other protection in a country through which they travel.
Republicans said this was woefully inadequate. “Nothing in this [Biden] rule prevents aliens from making frivolous asylum claims,” warned the senators. “Instead, under the terms of the rule, aliens are encouraged to schedule a time to present at a port of entry through the CBP One mobile application, after which time many, if not most, will subsequently claim asylum,” read a statement.
The Sinema-Tillis bill would require 60 votes to pass. It is doubtful it would be instituted in time for Title 42’s expiration on May 11.
Biden could also find it a tricky issue politically, as several Democrats have supported continuing Title 42. Senators Sinema, Jon Tester (D., Mont.), Jacky Rosen (D., Nev.), Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), and Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) all voted for a failed proposal to boost border funding and extend Title 42 last year.
“I think the border has to be secure, period. . . . It’s a disaster at the border,” Manchin told Politico.