President Joe Biden visited El Paso, Texas, on Sunday to address a new immigration program amid a historic increase in migrants entering the U.S., and neither party is happy about his new policy.
Democrats called the plan a “humanitarian disgrace,” and Republicans expressed anger that it was his first time visiting the border since his presidency, claiming the borders are “wide open,” The New York Times reported.
From October 2021 to October 2022, Border Patrol reported 1.7 million people attempting to cross the border illegally, which is higher than any year since 1960, per The New York Times.
What happened during Biden’s visit to the southern border?
The visit was not considered particularly fruitful, as the president never delivered an address or made remarks and spent most of the visit consulting border personnel. He did go to a migrant respite center in El Paso, but reporters said it just so happened that there weren’t any migrant people there at the time of the visit, according to CNN.
What is Title 42?
Part of the issue stems from Title 42 — a controversial ban on allowing immigrants into the country instituted in 2020 as a COVID-19 precaution. Biden’s administration has debated when to end the policy, but it is currently still in place, despite Democrats and immigration advocates being in stark opposition to it.
What is Biden’s immigration plan?
Biden’s proposed plan includes expanding Title 42 limitations by allowing 30,000 asylum-seekers from the countries where the largest population of people are trying to cross the border to apply for citizenship from their country each month. Those countries include Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti.
“As a nation of immigrants, we must have a humane, efficient and professional immigration system that reflects our American values,” Democratic California Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán told The Hill.