{"id":11572,"date":"2023-05-13T04:33:22","date_gmt":"2023-05-13T09:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=11572"},"modified":"2023-05-13T04:33:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T09:33:26","slug":"biden-facing-political-pressures-from-both-parties-over-handling-of-migration-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=11572","title":{"rendered":"Biden facing political pressures from both parties over handling of migration challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Joe Biden<\/a> is coming under sustained pressure from both sides of the aisle over the administration\u2019s handling of the expiration of Title 42, the controversial Trump-era pandemic public health restriction that became a key tool<\/a> to turn back migrants at the US-Mexico border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Title 42 was a public health order established early on in the pandemic with the aim of preventing the spread of Covid-19, and it allowed authorities to swiftly expel migrants at US land borders. The measure expired on Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, US immigration agencies are returning to decades-old protocols at a time of unprecedented mass migration in the Western hemisphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it grapples with the challenge, the administration has also pointed to additional authorities it is using following Title 42\u2019s expiration, including the expansion of legal pathways and a surge of resources to the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden faces the difficult task of showing he can control the border and handle an anticipated influx of migrants humanely, while navigating continued criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the stroke of midnight on Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that migrants should not \u201cbelieve the lies of smugglers\u201d as Title 42 had expired, reiterating, \u201cThe border is not open.\u201d He said the country is \u201cready to humanely process and remove people without a legal basis to remain in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayorkas told \u201cCNN This Morning\u201d that the administration has \u201cbeen planning for months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReally, what this situation reflects is the fact that we are operating within very serious constraints,\u201d he told CNN\u2019s Phil Mattingly Friday morning, pointing to \u201ca fundamentally broken immigration system that hasn\u2019t been fixed for more than two decades\u201d and Congress\u2019 refusal to provide the administration with more resources. He also blamed \u201ca broken immigration system that was dismantled by the prior administration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Our plan will take some time, but our plan will succeed\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been clear for months that the situation was going to be challenging. \u2026 I\u2019ve also been very clear that we have confidence in our plan. That our plan will take some time, but our plan will succeed,\u201d Mayorkas told Mattingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Homeland Security previously released a six-pillar plan that outlined its post-Title 42 operations, including setting up additional facilities along the border to process migrants, bolstering transportation and leaning on a fast-track deportation process known as \u201cexpedited removal.\u201d Administration officials are still relying on that plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, a new regulation that\u2019s gone into effect largely bans migrants who traveled through other countries on their way to the US-Mexico border from applying for asylum in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there are some exceptions, the new asylum rule generally applies to migrants who unlawfully cross the US-Mexico border. It does not apply to unaccompanied migrant children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The asylum restrictions have drawn sharp criticism from immigrant rights advocates since they were proposed earlier this year and the rule is already facing legal challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration is also sending an additional 1,500 active-duty troops<\/a> to the border and leaning on Mexico to help stem migration in part by allowing the US to send certain migrants who aren\u2019t Mexican back across the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, the end of Title 42 has not triggered an influx of migrants on the scale some had feared. There was no \u201csubstantial increase overnight or an influx at midnight\u201d of migrants after the end of Title 42, Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy Blas Nu\u00f1ez-Neto told reporters Friday.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, in anticipation of a dramatic increase in migrant arrivals, a slew of communities \u2013 including border cities<\/a>, New York state and the city of Chicago \u2013 have issued disaster declarations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of criticisms from border cities and governors of red states, heads of major cities have voiced concerns \u2013 many of which have been the targets of GOP governors and officials in Southern states sending buses of migrants their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has been vocal in his calls for more aid, saying the migrant arrivals in his city and others in the Northeast should be handled by the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of both parties are unhappy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Biden is facing criticism from both the left and right in Washington over his administration\u2019s handling of the US-Mexico border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, railed on the Biden administration over its handling of the policy\u2019s expiration, calling for passage of her bill to give the administration new expulsion authority at the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Administration\u2019s insufficient preparation for the end of Title 42 is unacceptable, and Arizona border communities bear the cost,\u201d she said in the statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate West Virginia Democrat, expressed frustration about the administration being unable to come up with a \u201cviable solution to prevent an unmanageable surge of migrants at our southern border.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile I do not support every provision, Republicans in the House of Representatives are at least working on a border security bill to fill the leadership vacuum created by this Administration. Our country cannot maintain our superpower status if we cannot control our own border,\u201d Manchin said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevada Democratic Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, as well as Nevada Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, sent a letter to the president on Wednesday expressing \u201cstrong concerns that the federal government is still insufficiently prepared for the reality that Title 42 is coming to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Henry Cuellar, a moderate Texas Democrat, was also critical of Biden\u2019s shift in approach to the border issue, recently telling Politico<\/a>, \u201cPolitically, now the president\u2019s trying to move to the center when it comes to immigration policies \u2013 I think a little bit too late, but they\u2019re moving to the center now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end of Title 42 has also remained a target of intense criticism by conservatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House of Representatives passed a sweeping border security bill<\/a> this week that would restart construction of a border wall, increase funding for border agents and upgraded border technology, reinstate the \u201cremain in Mexico\u201d policy, place new restrictions on asylum seekers, and enhance requirements for E-verify, a database employers use to verify immigration status. The legislation, a wishlist from House Republicans, is considered dead on arrival in the Senate, which has a Democratic majority. The White House has also issued a veto threat. Still, the House\u2019s passage of the legislation serves as a messaging opportunity for one of the GOP\u2019s signature priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a news conference Monday morning, Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott likened the expiration of Title 42 as the laying out of a welcome mat to migrants across the world, signaling America\u2019s borders are wide open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texas Republican Rep. Pete Sessions compared the current migrant situation to the US military\u2019s chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongress has been in this circumstance for quite some time, but we still have to worry about the lives and the safety of the men and women of law enforcement, the border patrol that are there, and for now two-plus years we have had dangerous conditions along the border,\u201d Sessions said on \u201cCNN This Morning\u201d on Friday. \u201cThis could be done far differently, like Donald Trump did, well okay perhaps, but that\u2019s not my point. My point is that this as chaotic as Afghanistan was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the return to decades old protocol carries more legal consequences for migrants who cross the US-Mexico border unlawfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro said on \u201cThe Lead with Jake Tapper\u201d that Republicans\u2019 concerns about a crisis-level influx of migrants coming into the US has so far been overblown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy Republican colleagues, the way they describe this is complete chaos. \u2018It\u2019s the end of the world.\u2019 And you see, I think everybody acknowledges today that that has not been the case,\u201d Castro said, acknowledging that further surges may still take place down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are able as a country, and we have been for generations, to handle migration in safe and orderly and effective way when we commit the resources to it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cnn<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Joe Biden is coming under sustained pressure from both sides of the aisle over the administration\u2019s handling of the expiration of Title 42, the controversial Trump-era pandemic public health restriction that became a key tool to turn back migrants at the US-Mexico border. Title 42 was a public health order established early on in the pandemic with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1169,6696,2060],"class_list":["post-11572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-biden","tag-both","tag-over"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11574,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11572\/revisions\/11574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}