The Border Crisis Gets Worse

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The Biden administration’s radical policies at the border continue to fuel historic levels of illegal immigrant crossings.
• In response to strong bipartisan opposition to its irresponsible decision to terminate Title 42, the administration released a “plan” that continues its failed policies on the border.
• The Biden administration is maintaining its efforts to end Title 42 even after a judge issued a temporary restraining order against terminating the program.

Border crossings by illegal immigrants reached another historic high last month as the Biden administration continues its radical immigration agenda. President Biden’s attempt to end Title 42 – a public health authority that allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection to quickly expel illegal immigrants caught crossing the border – has drawn lawsuits from multiple states and opposition from a significant number of Democrats in the Senate.

On Wednesday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that prevents the Biden Administration from taking steps to end Title 42 for the next 14 days. In issuing the temporary restraining order, the judge noted that the states suing the Biden administration are likely to prevail on their claim that the administration’s termination order did not comply with the Administrative Procedures Act.

border overwhelmed

CBP reported that it caught people attempting to cross the southern border illegally 221,303 times in March, including at ports of entry. It expelled people 109,549 times using Title 42, and the other 111,754 encounters were considered “Title 8 enforcement actions.” Title 8 is the normal authority that CBP uses to process illegal immigrants, including those who assert asylum claims. Many of the illegal immigrants processed under Title 8 were either released from CBP with a notice to appear in immigration court at a future date or transferred to other agencies that subsequently released them to wait for their immigration proceedings to begin, often years into the future. On April 1, the Biden administration announced that it would end Title 42 as of May 23. After that, illegal immigrants who previously would have been expelled under Title 42 will be processed under Title 8, and many will be released into the country.

Without Title 42, Thousands More Could Be Released

This ongoing surge at the border is straining our capacity to maintain security at our southern border. In the last three weeks, CBP has encountered an average of 7,800 illegal immigrants a day on the southern border, a 388% increase from the average of 1,600 encounters per day from 2014-2019. Administration officials expect this number could potentially jump to 18,000 per day when Title 42 is officially rescinded. This will quickly overwhelm our resources and force the administration to pull most law enforcement agents away from border security jobs so they can process illegal immigrants’ release paperwork.

On Tuesday, the administration unveiled a “plan” it claimed would deal with this influx. This plan only continues the failed policies of the administration, such as giving more money to nongovernmental organizations to transport migrants to other parts of the country. Rather than seeking to increase its capacity to detain illegal immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security says that it will only detain single adult illegal immigrants “when appropriate.” To the extent it is a plan at all, it is primarily aimed at smoothing the entry, processing, and release of illegal immigrants into the United States after they are apprehended at the southern border.

The administration wants to tell the American people it has this crisis under control, but it is clearly floundering. The crisis will continue until the administration abandons its radical policies and takes real steps to secure the border, restore integrity to the asylum process, and deter illegal immigration.