As the end of Title 42 approaches later this week, the Republican leaders in the GOP-controlled House are vowing to pass restrictive new legislation to shore up border security and address the ongoing illegal migrant crisis.
And President Joe Biden has vowed to veto it.
The GOP legislation would “restrict asylum, build more border wall, and cut a program that allows migrants a chance to stay in the U.S. lawfully for two year,” The Associated Press reported.
In a statement, the White House said, in part, “While we welcome Congress’ engagement on meaningful steps to address immigration and the challenges at the border, this bill would make things worse, not better. Because this bill does very little to actually increase border security while doing a great deal to trample on the Nation’s core values and international obligations, it should be rejected. If the President were presented with H.R. 2, he would veto it.”
Republicans are seeking to take advantage of the increased attention on immigration as it surges into national news this week with the expiration of COVID-19 restrictions that allowed authorities to swiftly return many illegal border crossers. They plan to vote on the Secure the Border Act on Thursday, which is also the day when emergency powers are set to expire.
Officials have already observed a surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border and are preparing for a potential increase, the AP noted.
“The Biden administration has long argued Congress needs to act on the border in order to fix major problems that have led to record numbers of people illegally crossing. But this isn’t the way to do it, in the view of the White House,” the AP added.
Meanwhile, some officials in states that border Mexico are taking matters into their own hands.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is adding National Guard personnel to “Operation Lone Star,” an effort to better secure the state’s boundary, Fox News reported.
The outlet noted:
In response to “Joe Biden’s reckless border policies,” the Texas National Guard is loading Black Hawk helicopters and C-130s, deploying specially trained national guard members to “hotspots along the border to intercept, to repel and to turn back migrants who are trying to enter Texas illegally,” Abbott said at a press conference from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
In a statement, the Texas National Guard said it activated 545 more service members at locations around the state Monday to “reinforce the border mission in anticipation of the end of Title 42 immigration restrictions.”
“These additional forces will bolster the thousands of Texas National Guard service members already assisting local and state law enforcement agencies to secure the border; stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons and people into Texas; and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between the ports of entry,” the Texas National Guard said in a Monday statement.
“We have expanded our capabilities to include boat teams that patrol hundreds of river miles, drones and helicopters that detect illicit activity from the air, and brush teams, security points and roving patrols that block and interdict illegal smuggling (drugs, weapons and people) into Texas,” the statement continued.
“President Biden is laying down a welcome mat to people across the entire world saying that the United States border is wide open, and it will lead to an incredible amount of people coming across the border illegally. President Biden’s open border policies is going to cause a catastrophic disaster in the United States,” Abbott said.
“According to the Biden administration itself, they anticipate about 13,000 people coming across the border illegally, every single day,” the governor noted further. “If you extend that out over the course of a year, it means it will be about 4,700,000 people coming across the border a year. That will mean there will be more people coming across the border illegally than there are residents of the massive city of Chicago.”
