The end of Title 42, the pandemic-era set of restrictions on illegal immigrants, has, as expected, brought chaos and confusion, while exposing the utter incompetence of the Biden administration.
The White House has known that Title 42 was going to end for much of the last year. And yet, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has failed utterly and completely to make adequate arrangements to handle the crush at the border.
Perhaps he and the White House were hoping the problem would go away, or that it wouldn’t be as bad as everyone was predicting. Wrong on both counts. And now, people are likely to die because a man was put in charge of the agency responsible for securing the border who believes the border shouldn’t be a barrier to entry into the U.S.
Just prior to the expiration of Title 42 at midnight on Thursday, there was a flurry of activity in federal courts that only added to the confusion at the border.
Just before Title 42 was set to expire at midnight on May 11, immigration advocates represented by the American Civil Liberties Union filed a legal challenge to the new asylum bars, claiming they violate U.S. laws and international agreements.
Advocates argue the new regulation, put in place by Democratic President Joe Biden to curb illegal crossings, resembles restrictions issued by former President Donald Trump, his Republican predecessor. The rights groups successfully blocked the Trump rules in court and asked the same California-based judge to block these as well.
Biden’s plan to release illegal aliens without giving them a court date to report for their asylum hearing hit a road block when a judge in Florida ordered the administration to follow proper regulatory procedure and give any illegal alien released into the United States a date when they must appear before a judge.
In Florida, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell ordered the federal government to stand down from its proposed move to “parole” migrants crossing the southern border through Texas, siding with state lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration. The move came hours before Title 42, which has allowed the government to turn away millions of asylum seekers in recent years, expired at midnight.
When asked about the impact the decision could have, Mayorkas called it a “very harmful ruling, attacking a practice that prior administrations have used,” while speaking on MSNBC Friday morning.
The Justice Department is “considering its options,” he added, after being asked if the administration will appeal the decision.
The Biden administration tried an end run around the law and got smacked down. But even though it won’t be official policy, that didn’t stop Border Patrol agents from catching and releasing illegal immigrants at the height of the surge at the border in 2021.
Related: Quietly, a Huge Potential Victory For Border Security
The release of illegal aliens into the U.S. interior without a court date is being justified as an emergency measure. But if DHS had six months to plan for this surge, why is it an emergency?
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