The representative for the district, which includes the entire New Mexico-Mexico border, is pushing for Joe Biden to retain Title 42, claiming the president is out of touch with what real Americans want and their state doesn’t have the resources to deal with it with the upcoming move.
“If they completely eliminate Title 42, we may see up to 18,000 people a day coming across the southern border,” Representative Yvette Herrell told in an interview on Thursday.
“We don’t have the resources to deal with it because we just don’t have enough boots on site,” she added.
“It just doesn’t make sense that this government is now being told these numbers, they hear these numbers, they know we’re on our way to illegally hitting these 2 million people here and yet they don’t seem to be worried about that,” Herrell said.
“And I think they underestimate the concern of Americans.”
Herrell said her so-called PAUSE bill is gaining traction in the House of Representatives, which would prevent the administration from completing pandemic-era Title 42 until COVID restrictions are lifted in the US, Mexico and Canada.
She explained that GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas had tabled a relief motion for the bill that, if a majority of Congress signed, could put the bill to a vote. Herrell said there were over 200 Republican signatures Wednesday and more were received Thursday.
New Mexico Republican Representative Yvette Herrell (pictured) says the Biden administration “underestimates” how important border security is to Americans
Since Biden took office in January 2021, the CBP has encountered more than 2.2 million migrants and the border. Herrell says when Title 42 ends, up to 18,000 migrants will arrive at the border every day
Even some Democrats, including Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, broke with the party after reports surfaced this week that the administration would end Title 42 by May 23, 2022.
They claim that there is no adequate plan to suppress southern border crossing without Title 42 in place.
The representative of New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district introduced the Protection of Americans from Unnecessary Spreading Upon Entry (PAUSE) Act on Jan. 25, 2021 — just days after President Biden was sworn in.
“We know now there are Democrats who have come out and said they don’t want Title 42 to go away,” Herrell told . “So at the federal level, in terms of Congress, we’re pushing hard to move this Title 42 bill, this PAUSE law, forward.”
She explained that Republicans are trying to get “at least some” Democrats to sign the papers, adding that they sent a letter to colleagues to “ask.” [Democrats] to take the lead” and support the PAUSE Act to “help put the safety and well-being of the American people first.”
Herrell claims that the proposed legislation is a single-issue bill that would only keep Title 42 in play. She also insisted that there was nothing hidden in the bill, and specifically cried out that it was not necessary for Donald Trump’s border wall to be completed or other issues of particular concern for the policy to remain in effect.
Enacted under former President Trump, Title 42 allows for the immediate deportation of migrants and the ability to withhold hearings on their asylum claims amid the public health emergency.
Migrant asylum seekers are detained by a Border Patrol agent after crossing the Rio Bravo River to surrender and seek asylum March 30, 2022 in El Paso, Texas
The Biden federal government has continued to extend the state of emergency in the US, leading Congresswoman Herrell to question why Title 42 should be lifted when a state of emergency is still in place.
Herrell’s office remains in touch with border police in her state to share information on migration — including estimates that 18,000 people a day could cross the border once Title 42 is lifted.
The PAUSE Act would prevent the administration from completing Title 42 until the pandemic is fully over. That means, according to the congresswoman, that all travel restrictions in all three North American countries as well as mandates from the pandemic period must be lifted.
“Right now in the bill that we’ve brought in, the PAUSE bill of course, [Title 42] remain in place until restrictions are lifted not only in our country but also in our neighboring countries – i.e. Mexico, Canada,” she explained.
She also said there was no point in ending pandemic-related policies to prevent the spread from coming across the border when masses of migrants flock there if the country remains under a state of emergency due to the public health crisis.
Herrell also lamented that while COVID restrictions are still in place in the US Capitol, there should be no easing of national security policies amid the pandemic.
“It’s a very interesting conversation because you’re right there where we’re seeing some of the mandates in terms of statewide mandates being lifted,” Herrell said.
“But, you know, here at the US Capitol, anyone who gets through has to go through security. They still don’t allow more than one tour per week per office on the House side. You know this is due to COVID. You know, we still see really strict rules in some places in the nation, not so much and in others. And I think as a country we can all say yes COVID is very serious and I think we’ve all been touched by COVID.
She added: “But at least we need to know who is coming into our country, we need to deal with the illegal drugs that are coming through the country, the sex trade, you know, the movement of illegals in our country as a whole. ‘
To help border states, Herrell said, the federal government must retain Title 42 and reinstate the Migrant Protection Program (MPP), commonly referred to as the Remain-in-Mexico policy.
MPP was a Trump-era policy that allowed the US to turn migrants back to Mexico if they entered the US from there to await trials on their asylum claims. This reduced the likelihood that migrants would be released into the country and evade the immigration system and remain in the US illegally.
Herrell says she wrote two letters to her state’s Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last year, calling for the New Mexico National Guard to be deployed to help with the southern border crisis.
The congresswoman claims this would be helpful because it would help get border agents out of the processing centers and back to the border.
Grisham never replied to her letters.
Herrell said there are National Guard troops from other states bordering New Mexico, but none from their own state.
“So our governor clearly has the same philosophy as the Biden administration — sort of out-of-sight-out-of-mind mentality,” Herrell accused. “Whereas other states can actually see the danger that so many people are entering the country illegally, the illegal drugs that flow through.”
“Health and safety again – but many people are willing to turn a blind eye,” she continued. “But who doesn’t turn a blind eye is the people of this nation, and certainly the people of states that live and work right on the border, particularly New Mexico.”