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BY FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ AND VALERIE GONZALEZ | STAFF WRITERS
Sen. John Cornyn was critical Thursday of the Biden administration’s response, or, in his opinion, lack thereof, pertaining to Title 42, a policy barring migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. and whose implementation is anticipated to end come Monday.
Speaking via conference call on a number of subjects including his recent visit to Ukraine and his legislation to provide around-the-clock security police protection to the families of the Supreme Court Justices, Cornyn took a critical tone referring to the border as “out of control” when he reached the subject of Title 42.
“Last month, more than 230,000 encounters occurred on our southern border, and almost 100,000 of those were removed under Title 42 — which as you know is a public health title designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” Cornyn said.
Customs and Border Protection released its data for border encounters on Tuesday, which indicated encounters increased by about 10,000 from March to April — although a spike during that time period was also seen in the last two years. Meanwhile, the number of people crossing the border decreased by 2%.
The number of unique encounters — a term that tracks an individual person instead of the number of times that person tries to cross — in April 2022 was 157,555, a 2% decrease in the number of unique enforcement encounters compared to the prior month.
Even so, Alejandro Mayorkas, Department of Homeland Security secretary, acknowledged the challenges at the border during his visit Tuesday.
“We are addressing a level of migration that is historic,” the secretary said.
Border patrol agents who met with the secretary earlier this week shared their concerns and need for more resources at the border, a sentiment echoed by Cornyn on Thursday.
“Border Patrol facilities are now at more than 200% of capacity, and without Title 42 we would’ve had to house an additional 97,000 people,” Cornyn said.
It was unclear whether the senator was referring to the capacity at facilities across the border or just those in the Rio Grande Valley sector. It was also unclear whether the senator was using capacity limits issued before or after COVID, when social distancing shrank holding room significantly.
Last month, the administration shared a 20-page memorandum addressing its broad approach to the imminent end of Title 42, which DHS plans to address through a six-pillar approach. The senator, seeking the finer strokes to the plan, said his faith on the administration’s planning wavers.
“They know that when it comes to the border, there are so-called push factors; for example, violence and economic deprivation in the migrant’s home country,” Cornyn said. “But there’s also the pull factor. And the perception that the United States no longer is interested in border security and is willing to let a tool like Title 42 expire without putting anything else in its place, will do nothing but increase the pull factors that will encourage more and more illegal immigration.”
However, Title 42 is not an immigration tool. It is a public health code leveraged at the beginning of the pandemic that allows the country to control egress into the country as a way to safeguard public health during a global crisis. As signs of a recovery worldwide emerged, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined it was no longer necessary to extend the policy.
As a result, border officials will return to processing migrants seeking asylum under protections enshrined in U.S. immigration law, which has not had significant reform in years.
Cornyn and other border lawmakers have grown frustrated at the lack of progress affecting their constituents.
“If the administration is interested in any ideas, they can take a look at my Bipartisan Border Solutions Act, which I introduced months ago with Sen. (Kyrsten) Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona — another border state — and Congressman Henry Cuellar, a Blue Dog Democrat from Texas, and Tony Gonzales who represents the largest border district in the United States Congress.”
The team of supporters for the bill visited the Valley to promote their idea in June 2021.
“Unfortunately, we’ve heard nothing from the administration. No interest. No recognition of the crisis occurring at the border,” a frustrated Cornyn said.
The immediate future of Title 42 remains uncertain. A decision from a federal court weighing the delay of the policy’s removal is expected to come Friday.
