Manchin, Cornyn, Cuellar, Gonzales Urge Biden to Extend Title 42 Order

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Cornyn (R-TX) and Representatives Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX) urged President Joe Biden to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Title 42 order beyond the December 21^st 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 21^st deadline until Congress can act.”

• On December 13, 2022, Senator Manchin led a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers in urging President Biden to extend the CDC’s Title 42 order, set to expire on December 21, 2022.  
• On April 7, 2022, Senator Manchin led a group of bipartisan lawmakers in introducing the Public Health and Border Security Act to require all COVID-19 related national states of emergency to be lifted before Title 42 is officially terminated.
• On April 1, 2022, Senator Manchin released a statement responding to the Biden Administration’s decision to end the Title 42 policy. Senator Manchin stated that Title 42 is essential to combat the spread of COVID-19 and manage the influx of migrants at southern border.
• On March 29, 2022, Senator Manchin called on CDC Director Walensky to extend the Title 42 policy due to rising COVID-19 cases across the globe and record migrant encounters.
• On September 29, 2021, Senator Manchin led a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers in introducing the Providing Officers with Electronic Resources (POWER) Act to provide state and local law enforcement with high-tech devices to detect and identify dangerous drugs like fentanyl, including at U.S. ports of entry.
• On April 2, 2021, Senator Manchin visited and toured the U.S.-Mexico Border. Senator Manchin visited the World Trade Bridge to meet with officials from CBP and the City of Laredo to discuss cross border international trade and visited the Holding Institute to meet with migrant families and see the impact of the increase in migrant individuals released at the southern border.

Dear President Biden:

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. 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 21^st deadline until Congress can act.

 

While admittedly imperfect, termination of the CDC’s Title 42 order at this time will result in a complete loss of operational control over the southern border, a profoundly negative impact on border communities, and significant suffering and fatalities among the migrants unlawfully entering the United States. 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. Furthermore, your administration’s new migration enforcement process for Venezuelans depends on the availability of Title 42.

As long as Title 42 remains our only effective tool for controlling unlawful migration—along with the expectation of its imminent rescission—pressure will continue to build on the southern border. A recent article in the New York Times stated that “waves of Venezuelans have left South America as word has spread that the United States had no easy way to keep most of them out and would allow them to enter the country and seek asylum,” and that “[n]early all have passed through the Darién Gap.” Despite the administration’s reliance on Title 42 to maintain control, however, the CDC attempted to rescind the Title 42 order in April 2022, and after being preliminarily enjoined from doing so by Judge Robert Summerhays, appealed Judge Summerhays’ decision to the 5th Circuit.

Now, we are less than two weeks away from the termination of the Title 42 order as a result of separate decision issued by Judge Emmet Sullivan on November 15, 2022. While we appreciate that DHS sought a stay of Judge Sullivan’s decision in order to facilitate a transition period, a mere five weeks is completely inadequate to prepare for a massive influx of migrants when the infrastructure and policies are not in place to expeditiously remove those with invalid claims for asylum or other forms of relief. We are also concerned that aside from filing a notice of appeal weeks after Judge Sullivan’s decision, DHS has not outlined a viable plan to maintain operational control of the southern border. This situation is untenable, and we must work together to keep in place DHS’s authority to quickly expel migrants until an acceptable set of alternative policies and resources is put into place.