Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans are demanding a hearing on the potential impact of President Joe Biden's decision to rescind Title 42.
Former President Donald Trump had put Title 42 in place to turn away migrants at the southern border due to the health concerns of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Biden plans to do away with Title 42 COVID-19 expulsions on May 23 – sparking fears of a rush to the border by migrants.
In a letter to Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the committee's Republicans said: "We share the concerns raised by our Democratic colleagues and are troubled by the potential consequences of rescinding Title 42 without a detailed plan in place to effectively deal with the aftermath," the senators wrote. "…we believe it is important that DHS [Department of Homeland Security] develop an effective contingency plan, share the details of the plan with Congress, and come before the Judiciary Committee to discuss the plan and answer any questions committee members of both parties may have.
"We write today to request a hearing of the full committee related to the Department of Homeland Security's development and implementation of a plan to respond to a potential influx of migrant crossings at the southern border after of the rescission of the Title 42 public health order on May 23rd.
"Termination of the Title 42 order will likely result in a large influx of migrants at the southern border – larger than the already record levels of illegal immigrant crossings currently taking place along the border. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz recently stated that there are already approximately 7,000 encounters per day with illegal immigrants crossing the border, and that the number of encounters is likely to pass the one million mark for the first 6 months of FY2022 alone.
"That puts the United States on track to break the all-time record for illegal border crossings that was set just last year. With current daily crossings already happening at a record pace, it's even more concerning that DHS officials have acknowledged the possibility of up to 18,000 encounters per day once Title 42 is rescinded."
Led by Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, every Republican member of the committee signed the letter, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Cornyn of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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