Washington-. US analysts today confirmed that President Joe Biden is cornered on immigration issues and his options are limited to applying the unpopular Donald Trump-era measures (2017-2021).
The other option he has, according to journalists Rafael Bernal and Rebecca Beitsch, is to lift those restrictions – which have been heavily criticized by pro-immigrants – against the wishes of his weakest allies in the Senate.
Many Democrats openly oppose the administration for ending Title 42, a border management policy enforced by its predecessor that strips migrants of their right to seek asylum under the guise of the pandemic.
The policy is scheduled to end on May 23, and while the Biden administration says it is logistically prepared for increased migration, the lack of a clear message is leaving Democrats in limbo ahead of the midterm elections, pundits said in a report published in The Hügel.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D. of Arizona) and other members of that party earlier this month joined with a Republican group led by Sen. James Lankford (R. of Oklahoma) codifying Title 42 and continuing its application with others Prevention measures would link measures for Covid-19 at national level.
Other proponents, including those who have criticized it since it came into force in 2020, have changed their minds and believe it should be applied permanently.
Such is the case of Catherine Cortez Masto (D. of Nevada) and Raphael Warnock (D. of Georgia), who criticized the lack of a clear border mandate and warned that repealing Title 42 could send the wrong message to drug traffickers.
For his part, Senator Gary Peters (Democrat of Michigan), chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said the government does not have a defined plan to ensure an orderly, safe and humane flow of migration.
“Unless we have a well thought out plan, Title 42 should be reviewed and perhaps postponed. I will defer judgment on this until the federal government presents a strategy,” said Peters.
Biden has nonetheless received supportive comments, including from a White House spokesman who told The Hill that Trump-era policies didn’t deter thousands of migrants from trying to reach the US-Mexico border.
The rule, said the spokesman, whose identity has not been revealed, is not an immigration agency but a public health directive imposed amid a global health crisis.
He also encouraged migrants to repeatedly try to enter the country illegally, as they were quickly deported and failed to go through the immigration process. Those cases, which number in the thousands, have had no consequences, giving them the strength to reach the limit again, he said.
The repeal of Title 42, the spokesman added, is a return to the norm “where people are prosecuted and brought to justice and those who do not seek protection or do not qualify are quickly expelled to their countries of origin.” he concluded.