Washington, (DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) released the following statement on the Biden Administration’s decision to end the Title 42 policy on May 23, 2022.
“Today’s announcement by the CDC and the Biden Administration is a frightening decision,” said Senator Manchin. “Title 42 has been an essential tool in combatting the spread of COVID-19 and controlling the influx of migrants at our southern border. We are already facing an unprecedented increase in migrants this year, and that will only get worse if the Administration ends the Title 42 policy. We are nowhere near prepared to deal with that influx. Until we have comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that commits to securing our borders and providing a pathway to citizenship for qualified immigrants, Title 42 must stay in place.”
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, encounters with migrants reached an all-time high of 1.7 million people, which is four times higher than the 400,000 encounters reported the previous year, and the United States is on pace to set a new record again this year. Through the first five months of FY22, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has experienced more than 838,000 migrant encounters.
Earlier this week, Senator Manchin called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky to extend the Title 42 policy due to rising COVID-19 cases across the globe and surging migrant encounters.
