Biden’s refusal to act on Title 42 creates ‘state of emergency’ at border, and Nationwide

Ramifications of Biden's failed border strategy are about to be felt Nationwide

Our Nation’s sovereignty is on a collision course with an unprecedented surge of illegal aliens that recent drone footage reveals is mobilizing on the Mexican side of the U.S. southern border. On December 21, the government’s ability to immediately turn away illegal aliens at the southern border ends. When this expulsion authority, known as Title 42, ends there will be no policies in place to deter aliens from crossing the border unlawfully. That is a remarkably sad, but true statement. And the cartels, traffickers, and smugglers know it and will be poised to exploit our lack of border security enforcement to new heights. Today’s border crisis is about to become a catastrophe.

For those who don’t follow border security issues daily, it is hard to express just how bad things have been during the last 23-months and how much worse they are expected to get. More illegal aliens were apprehended at the southern border last year than during the entire Trump administration. Most of them have been allowed into the country because they make dubious asylum claims, and very few—if any—are actually removed when those asylum claims are denied.

The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is predicting 9,000-14,000 per day beginning tomorrow. This is like pouring gasoline on an already raging fire. If DHS’s prediction holds up, between December 21 and Christmas Day, approximately 70,000 illegal aliens could make it into the country, enough to fill SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles that currently houses the LA Rams, LA Chargers, and hosted last season’s Super Bowl. Within two months, the number of new illegal aliens crossing our border could surpass the population of El Paso (678,415).

This is unsustainable. Which is why the Democrat mayor of El Paso, Texas just declared a "state of emergency." While border towns and states will be impacted first, the enormity of this problem will be felt Nationwide. Our entire country is in a ‘state of emergency’ because of today’s failed approach border security.

The most outrageous aspect of the situation unfolding at the border is that the Biden administration has failed for 23 months to implement effective deterrent policies. This stands in contrast to almost every prior administration, Democrat or Republican, who understood the critical nature of enforcing our laws to have some resemblance of order along the border. 

During the presidential transition following the 2020 election, my team handed over our playbook of successful border security policies like Remain in Mexico, the Asylum Cooperative Agreements, and streamlining the removal of aliens when their asylum claims are denied. Title 42 was always intended to be a temporary measure to deal with COVID-19 and phasing it out would have had a minimal impact at the border if DHS had continued to follow our playbook.

 

Instead, the Biden administration promptly dismissed that playbook, set about dismantling every single one of those policies, sidelining career Border Patrol experts, and offering up no new solutions. This administration’s partial continuation of Title 42 served as a crutch to create the illusion that not every illegal alien who shows up at the border will be allowed in. The ramifications of this failed strategy are about to be felt to an unimaginable degree.

As the border catastrophe rages on in the coming weeks, the American people and Congress should reject the disinformation excuses being offered up to deflect accountability. DHS does not need new laws to secure the border, there are sufficient authorities to get the job done but, unfortunately, they are not being used. It is not possible to manage our way out of this crisis and there is nothing "safe, humane, and orderly" about the mass human trafficking event our current strategy and policies are encouraging. 

Lastly, the problem at the border is a policy problem, not a money problem. Congress should not fund the Biden administration’s border policies and, instead, should use the purse strings to compel DHS to institute a new strategy that secures the border, ends human trafficking, and defeats the cartels.

Read the Op-Ed in Fox News here. 

Chad Wolf is the former Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Executive Director and Chair of the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration at the America First Policy Institute.