Trump Claims U.S. Will Become A ‘Third World Country’ When Title 42 Immigration Policy Expires Next Week

beijingwalker · May 6, 2023

Trump Claims U.S. Will Become A ‘Third World Country’ When Title 42 Immigration Policy Expires Next Week

May 5, 2023,01:21pm EDT

Former President Donald Trump predicted the U.S. will become “officially, a THIRD WORLD NATION” when the Covid-era Title 42 immigration policy expires next week, he said on Truth Social Friday as the Biden Administration faces bipartisan pushback for deploying troops to the border ahead of an expected surge in migrants under the soon-to-be loosened immigration policy.

KEY FACTS

Title 42, which allowed immigration authorities to expel migrants who crossed the border illegally without the opportunity to seek asylum, is set to expire on May 11.

The end of the program, implemented under Trump at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to prevent the spread of the disease, is expected to lead to a wave of asylum seekers and marks a significant challenge for the Biden Administration, which announced last week that it would deploy 1,500 troops for 90 days to the U.S.-Mexico border as the change takes effect.

Trump has been ratcheting up his criticism of the Biden Administration’s immigration policies ahead of Title 42’s expiration, warning Friday “this date will go down in infamy” and “our borders will completely collapse.”

The message was preceded by a video Trump aired Wednesday in which he said President Joe Biden “is preparing to remove the last remnants of my Title 42 policy just a few weeks from now,” while predicting “hundreds of thousands of people will pour in that day” and cause “total mayhem and utter lawlessness.”

The expiration of Title 42 has prompted a fresh round of criticism from Republicans who have repeatedly blasted Biden’s border policies, while the Administration’s plan to send troops to the border has ignited backlash within his own party, particularly among pro-immigration Democrats, such as Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.), who have equated the deployment to an inhumane “militarization” of the border.

CONTRA

The Biden Administration, which has faced criticism for its shifting stance on Title 42, has deemed the program ineffective at deterring illegal immigration. “People are turned away under Title 42, and they’re not barred from trying to come back. They can and they do try to enter the United States again and again,” Biden said in December, while urging Congress to implement immigration reform, including his repeated call for a pathway to citizenship for “dreamers” enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants temporary visas to people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

KEY BACKGROUND

The Biden Administration first sought to end Title 42 in April last year after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deemed the policy “no longer necessary,” but the move was blocked by various lawsuits by Republican-led states claiming its early termination would prompt a wave of illegal immigration and hamstring their resources. The Biden Administration has argued that the restrictive policy is no longer necessary and will be replaced by a previous program, Title 8, which requires border authorities to admit migrants who are under threat in their home countries. The lawsuits have come to a halt before the Supreme Court as the program is set to end next week, in conjunction with the expiration of the Covid-19 public health emergency. The Biden Administration has set up various protocols to deal with the expected influx of migrants, including opening new processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala. Earlier this week, the White House also agreed to accept migrants from four additional countries, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, under DHS parole process. The U.S. and Mexico will also wage a joint campaign to crack down on smuggling, the White House said Tuesday.

BIG NUMBER

2.5 million. That’s the number of migrants Department of Homeland Security officials have turned away under Title 42 since it was implemented in March 2020.

TANGENT

Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced a bill on Thursday that would allow the Biden Administration to extend Title 42 for two years without the existence of a public health emergency. The senators accused the White House of failing to “secure the border” and predicted “the situation will get even worse once Title 42 is allowed to expire,” they said in a statement.