WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Tony Gonzales (TX-R) and Henry Cuellar (TX-D) and Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Cornyn (R-TX) on Tuesday urged President Joe Biden to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC’s) Title 42 order beyond the December 21st deadline.
The Members said in part, “We have a crisis at our southern border. Never before in our nation’s history have we experienced this scope and scale of illegal border crossings, and we remain concerned that your administration has not provided sufficient support or resources to the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who are tasked with maintaining border security.
In May 2022, DHS Secretary Mayorkas stated that the he was anticipating as many as 18,000 unlawful crossings per day once Title 42 was lifted. Based on recent court filings, DHS is almost completely reliant on Title 42 to control migration from Mexico and the Northern Triangle: the vast majority of Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans encountered by U.S. Border Patrol along the border in October 2022 were expelled under Title 42 rather than processed under Title 8.
The Members continued, “We are committed to enacting bipartisan legislation that will allow DHS to effectively implement policies and programs that have been revealed as critical to maintaining operational control over the southern border, and do not involve paroling large numbers of migrants into the United States to undergo months- or years-long processes. These negotiations will take time. In the interim, we urge you to do everything within your power to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC’s) Title 42 order beyond the looming December 21st deadline until Congress can act.”
The full letter is available here.