The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the abolition of Title 42 on Friday. The mandate, originally introduced by the Trump administration to slow the spread of Covid, was canceled “after examining current public health conditions and the increased availability of tools to combat COVID-19,” the CDC said in a statement. Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) called the decision “scary” in a statement Friday. “We are already facing an unprecedented increase in immigration this year, and this will only get worse if the government ends its Title 42 policy. We are hardly ready to deal with this influx,” Manchin said in a statement. “Until we have a comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that is committed to securing our borders and providing a path for citizenship for skilled migrants, Title 42 must remain in place.” The implementation of the abolition will be delayed until May 23. However, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D., NH) warned that the Biden government “does not appear to be ready” for a possible influx of immigrants once the abolition takes effect. “Title 42 expiring prematurely is likely to lead to a wave of immigrants for whom the government does not seem ready,” Hassan said in a Twitter post. “I will continue to push the administration to strengthen border security and I look forward to hearing directly from border agents during my upcoming border trip.” Arizona senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, both Democrats, also criticized the repeal of Title 42 on Friday. Kelly said the abolition was “a wrong decision”, in a statement to Fox News. “It is unacceptable to terminate Title 42 without a plan and coordination to ensure a safe, orderly and humane process at the border.” “The early termination of Title 42 without a comprehensive, workable plan would endanger the health and safety of Arizona communities,” Sinema said in a statement. “Today’s decision to announce the end of Title 42… shows a lack of understanding of the crisis at our borders.” The story goes on Both senators wrote a letter to President Biden on March 24 stating that “they have not yet seen evidence that DHS has developed and implemented an adequate plan to maintain a humane and orderly process in the event of the termination of Title 42.” Senator Mark Warner (D., Va.) Had previously expressed concern about the removal of comments on CNN on Wednesday. “I would be very reluctant for the government to end this Trump policy until we have a real plan. “I think we are a generous country, but we have to be a country of the rule of law,” Warner said. A record 2 million illegal immigrants crossed the border in the first year of Biden’s term and the increase is expected to intensify after the abolition of Title 42.
