US Senators Introduce Bill to Extend Trump's Title 42 Border Policy Until 2025

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A group of Republican US Senators have introducing legislation to extend until 2025 the Title 42 policy implemented by the Trump administration that allows for the deportation of illegal immigrants on public health grounds, the lawmakers said in a press release.

“US Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., joined Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and his Republican colleagues in introducing a bill to extend Title 42 authority until February 2025. The bill comes in response to President Joe Biden’s decision to rescind Title 42 authority, which the Biden Administration warned would result in a massive surge of illegal immigration across the southern border,” the press release said on Thursday.

The Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it will terminate the Title 42 public health policy on May 23. The policy has been in effect since March 2020 and was used by the Trump and Biden administrations to turn away thousands of illegal immigrants in an effort to prevent communicable diseases from spreading in the United States.

Republicans and others have criticized the Biden administration for keeping the southern US border effectively open and allowing for more than 2 million illegal immigrants to enter the country.

More than 100,000 Americans died last year from drug overdoses, many from fentanyl coming across our southern border. We desperately need Title 42 to fight this drug epidemic.

Why did Democrats block my bill to expand Title 42 and stop fentanyl border crossings? pic.twitter.com/cPWfHtLU6u

— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) April 7, 2022

If the Biden Administration lifts Title 42, we are looking at astronomical numbers of illegal immigration at our southern border, which already sees almost 2 MILLION people crossing a year.

This betrayal of the American people will not stand. pic.twitter.com/UgmYn8IyTA

— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) April 7, 2022

Lifting Title 42 right now would likely make the current border crisis even worse.

Title 42 should be in place until we have border security; given the number of crossings we are seeing, we are far from having a secure border. @HomelandGOP pic.twitter.com/8VkTccnyQp

— Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (@RepMMM) April 7, 2022

🚨🚨 Dems BLOCKED a bill to extend Title 42 so Border Patrol agents have the tools needed to secure our border amid a surge of illegal immigration.

Don't let them claim they want to stop illegal immigration.

Their actions make it clear they don't. pic.twitter.com/Wyip1n4MZR

— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) April 7, 2022

The Biden administration said the Homeland Security Department has contingency plans to respond to the possible arrival of 12,000 to 18,000 illegal migrants per day at the southern border after the Title 42 policy is terminated, according to US media reports.

However, the senators said in the release that rescinding Title 42 would invite a massive surge of illegal immigration that will inflict a lasting crisis on the United States and put communities in harm’s way.

Other co-sponsors of the legislation include Senators Thom Tillis, Jim Risch, Steve Daines and Tim Scott, according to the press release.