After previously indicating that he hadn’t made a decision on Title 42, Politico reports that the Biden White House is standing by its original decision to end the Trump-era immigration policy put in place during the pandemic, which is set to to be lifted on May 23.
Biden’s decision to end the policy, which will likely exacerbate the ongoing border crisis, has received bipartisan criticism, prompting Biden to reconsider lifting the policy.
“It’s not like we’ve been hiding the ball on this,” a White House official told Politico. “This is not a policy to applaud or defend or anything. It simply is a public health directive on whether there is a public health risk associated with processing migrants or not. The [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] made a determination that there wasn’t and that we’re OK to move forward with lifting it on May 23.”
On Thursday morning, Biden confused Title 42 with the federal transportation mask mandate, which was recently ruled “unlawful” by a federal judge in Florida.
The border crisis has proven to be a huge problem for the White House, namely because they refuse to admit there is a border crisis. But many Democrats in Congress are nevertheless frustrated by the lack of action to secure the border, and Politico seems to acknowledge that Biden’s actions are likely to give more credence to accusations from the GOP that Joe Biden supports open borders.
“Republicans are winning this messaging war, and they’re making it about open borders,” a former Biden administration official admitted to Politico. Other Democrats, like Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), are disappointed that there are so many in his party who want Title 42 kept in place.
“I hope that the administration continues on course to lift this Trump-era policy that was put in place by a xenophobe because, ultimately, history will not look kindly upon those who argued for its continuation,” he said Thursday.
The problem these Democrats don’t seem to understand that is the border crisis is one of the key issues that is hurting Biden, and, by extension, the entire Democratic Party, in these crucial months leading up to the midterm elections. Biden managed to create the worst border crisis in history despite Title 42, and one can only imagine how much worse it will get once it’s lifted. Last year saw the surge in border crossings causing overcrowding at migrant facilities (previously dubbed “cages” during the Trump administration) resulting in disgusting conditions. There have also been claims that migrant children are being sexually abused at Biden’s border facilities.
It seems that Biden is willing to make the border crisis he created the hill for his presidency and the Democrats’ majority to die on.
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