ICYMI: Sen. Cruz Joins Republican Colleagues To Demand The Biden Administration Keep Title 42 In Place

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, joined the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans John Cornyn (R-Texas), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Josh Hawley (R-Miss.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), John Kennedy (R-La.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) to send a letter to President Joe Biden urging the White House to reverse the administration’s decision to end Title 42.

About Tile 42, Sen. Cruz said at a recent press conference:

“Over six million people have crossed illegally under Joe Biden. Last year, over 100,000 people died of drug overdoses, the vast majority of which was Chinese fentanyl streaming across the border under Joe Biden. We saw just this week, in Texas, the horrific consequences. A mass murderer, who in cold blood assassinated five people, a family, including an eight-year-old child. We now know that mass murder was an illegal alien who had repeatedly entered the country illegally, been repeatedly deported, and yet, because under Joe Biden’s open border policy ICE is prevented from deporting dangerous illegal immigrants, he was here to commit that mass murder.”

In the letter Sen. Cruz and his Republican colleagues wrote:

“We shudder to think about how much worse the situation at the border would have been over the past three years had it not been for the deterrent effect of Title 42. Over the past three years, the Title 42 order has been a lifeline to the men and women of Border Patrol, who have been working heroically 24 hours a day to secure our southern border amid the worst border crisis in our lifetimes. Even with Title 42 in place, illegal crossings at the border have been at all-time highs.”

The senators noted that since the initial order was issued in March 2020, the authority has been used 2.7 million times, including 1.5 million times in just the past 18 months.  Of the 2.3 million encounters in fiscal year 2022, one million were processed under Title 42.

The senators also took issue with and criticized the proposed rule the Biden administration has put forth, titled “The Circumvention of Lawful Pathways” to address the issue when Title 42 expires. 

“Nothing in this [Biden] rule prevents aliens from making frivolous asylum claims. Instead, under the terms of the rule, aliens are encouraged to schedule a time to present at a port of entry through the CBP One mobile application, after which time many, if not most, will subsequently claim asylum. …Whether done through the CBP One mobile app or not, this gaming of our asylum system is a major pull factor that is causing the border crisis in the first place, and until your administration has a serious plan to address that, the authority Title 42 gives will still be necessary.

“Our border remains under assault. The resources of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) remain under tremendous strain. The introduction of 13,000 encounters every day to this crisis would be the equivalent of throwing gasoline on an already raging fire.”

Full text of the letter is available here

Sen. Cruz has led the fight to secure the border:

• Sen. Cruz has led numerous groups of legislators on trips to the U.S. Mexico border to document the unrelenting crisis there under Joe Biden’s open borders agenda.
• Sen. Cruz introduced the WALL Act to fully fund the wall along the southern border, and the EL CHAPO Act, which would use money forfeited to the U.S. government as a result of the criminal prosecution of Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” and other drug kingpins for border security and the completion of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
• Sen. Cruz has fought to keep American communities safe, as “sanctuary cities” across the country refuse to enforce the laws and release violent criminals illegally into our country. The Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act would allow local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and would pull taxpayer-funded grants to sanctuary cities.
• Sen. Cruz has successfully secured several amendments to the Coast Guard Authorization Act which support security efforts at our southern border. Sen. Cruz delivered on legislation that mandates real-time data sharing between U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (USCBP) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), legislation that would mandate the acquisition of enhanced surveillance capabilities for the southern maritime boundary, and legislation that would explore the creation of a Coast Guard facility at Port Mansfield.
• Sen. Cruz led the Asylum Accountability Act in the Senate which would impose a significant increase in the penalty for illegal aliens who fail to appear in immigration court by permanently barring them from gaining any future benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
• Sen. Cruz worked with colleagues to confront the Biden administration to address the humanitarian and security crisis at the U.S. southern border by establishing effective immigration controls in the United States. He also focused on targeting U.S. foreign assistance efforts to strengthen border security and migration management capacities in the region, and leveraging existing bilateral extradition treaties and the Palermo Protocols to prosecute transnational criminal actors facilitating illegal migration to the United State.

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