As a freezing polar vortex approaches Texas, more than 500 members of the state’s National Guard stood along the Rio Grande on Tuesday to block migrants from entering the state, on orders from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, per The Washington Post.
The Washington Post characterized this move as not unusual, but an “escalation of force.” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, connected to a lawsuit to end Title 42, a 1944 public health law that justifies immediate removal without an opportunity to seek asylum, criticized Abbott’s decision in an interview, saying, “What Texas is doing by preventing people from seeking asylum is patently unlawful and should stop immediately.”
A press statement published Tuesday by the Texas National Guard said, “The end of Title 42 is expected to lead to a massive influx of illegal immigrants allowing criminals to further exploit gaps while federal authorities are inundated with migrant processing. ... These actions are part of a larger strategy to use every available tool to fight back against the record-breaking level of illegal immigration and transnational criminal activity.”
Tuesday, Abbott said in a press release that he has written to President Joe Biden about the Texas border. In his letter to the president, Abbott said that the situation at the border was an “acute humanitarian crisis caused by federal inaction.” He said that migrants’ lives were at risk and ending Title 42 would increase that risk.
Title 42 was used by the Trump administration to block migrants from entering the U.S. without allowing them to seek asylum. This policy was put into place during the coronavirus pandemic and was set to expire Wednesday, per the Deseret News.
This policy is controversial. ABC News reported that some groups see it as a violation of the U.S.’s asylum-seeking laws. “The Haitian situation is a dramatic and horrific illustration of the harms caused by the Title 42 policy,” Gelernt said, adding “... families are literally being pushed back into the arms of persecutors and cartels, without any hearing.”
Others, like Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, see the policy as a solution, according to the Deseret News. Romney said, “We have record numbers of migrants illegally crossing the border and an alarming increase in drug trafficking, yet the Administration refuses to accept the solution sitting right in front of them: finish the wall, keep the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, and keep Title 42 in place.”