With the end of Title 42, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Secure the Border Act with Republican support.
“You want some GREAT news?” the Republican Study Committee said on Twitter this week. “The House passed the Secure the Border Act. It includes all 5 priorities we endorsed earlier this Congress. 1: Take back CONTROL of our border. 2: CUT asylum loopholes. 3: Stop incentives for ILLEGAL immigration. 4: FINISH the wall. 5: END the cartels.”
The bill passed the House by a vote of 219 to 213, NBC News reported. All Democrats voted against it, and all Republicans except for John Duarte of California and Thomas Massie of Kentucky voted for it.
The Secure the Border Act of 2023 would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resume construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. It would also update the equipment and technology of Border Patrol agents and impose that Customs and Border Protection maintain a staff of 22,000 Border Patrol agents.
It is expected that this bill will not become a law, as the Democrats have a slight majority in the Senate and the White House has discussed vetoing the bill if it were to pass the Senate.
Title 42 is a COVID-19-era policy by which immigrants can be expelled from the U.S. without any consideration for asylum, NBC News said. It was adopted in 2020 under President Donald Trump, ostensibly to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The Senate is proposing its own bill, which has bipartisan support, that would essentially give President Joe Biden a two-year extension of the functions of Title 42, but it would not be tied to a public health emergency; USA Today reported recently.
Republicans and some Democrats have criticized the Biden administration for what they have called the “chaos” at the border and the lack of a plan for a post-Title 42 situation, USA Today said.
At the beginning of May, Biden sent 1,500 troops to the southern border for a period of 90 days, the Los Angeles Times reported. It was done in anticipation of the end of Title 42, which many officials believe will cause more migrants to head to the border. The troops will not perform law enforcement functions or interact with migrants in custody, according to officials.
More than 2 million immigrants have been expelled due to the Title 42 policy, with many being sent into Mexico to try again, The Texas Tribune reported.
With the end of Title 42, it is expected that the new border policy will be Title 8, which is a much stricter policy than Title 42; a recent DHS report said. Under Title 42, immigrants could come to the border, get expelled and then come back repeatedly. Under Title 8, immigrants who do not use the lawful pathways to enter the U.S. get a five-year ban from coming back into the U.S. and could face harsher punishments if they try to reenter before then. Border officials are encouraging migrants to use the CBPOne App at the border in order to be processed in a legal manner.
