Utah Sen. Mitt Romney blasted the Biden administration’s immigration policy Tuesday, reaffirming his support for finishing the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and keeping Title 42 in place.
“The Biden Administration has dealt with the crisis at our southern border with raging incompetence,” the Utah Republican wrote on his Twitter account. “Our overwhelmed border communities and country at-large cannot afford their lack of attention. Title 42 must be kept in place to help stem the tide of illegal immigration.”
Title 42, a controversial Trump-era public health policy that allows authorities to deny asylum seekers entrance to the U.S. to avoid spreading COVID-19, was set to expire on Wednesday.
But Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday put a temporary hold on a lower court ruling that would have ended the policy. The hold came after 19 states earlier that day petitioned the court through an emergency appeal to keep Title 42 in place.
The hold ordered the Biden administration to respond before 5 p.m. Tuesday. In its 44-page response, the administration asked the court to deny the states’ appeal, acknowledging it could result in increased migrant arrivals, but claimed the policy’s public health origins were now “obsolete.”
The administration did ask for a temporary delay to Title 42’s termination, specifically that it remain in place until Dec. 27 if the Supreme Court rules before Dec. 23.
But Romney, in addition to criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of immigration in general, pushed back on attempts to end the policy, calling Title 42 a “solution sitting right in front of them.”
“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,” Romney said.
For now, it appears Romney will get two of his three policy solutions, with a federal judge in Texas putting a hold on the Biden administration’s attempt to end “Remain in Mexico” on Friday and Title 42’s future still unclear.
“Remain in Mexico,” officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols, is another controversial Trump-era policy that sent migrants who reached the U.S. border back into Mexico to wait for a decision in their immigration proceedings, regardless of their country of origin.
The Biden administration’s attempt to end the policy was held up in the courts by a coalition of GOP-led states, spearheaded by Texas. When the policy was enacted, reports of migrants living in squalid conditions along the U.S. border surfaced. Thousands of people were housed in camps, according to The New York Times, and stories of violence, sexual assault and kidnappings followed.
In a clarifying statement Tuesday, spokesperson for Romney Arielle Mueller said the senator also wants to implement an E-Verify system to dissuade employers from hiring undocumented immigrants, and find a solution for the roughly 800,000 recipients of former President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival policy, which protects the children of undocumented immigrants from deportation.
“Senator Romney believes that we need to get serious about long-term solutions that put in place a coherent immigration policy that secures the border, stops the flow of illegal immigration, and updates our legal immigration system,” said Mueller. “These include completing the border barrier, instituting mandatory and permanent E-Verify to eliminate one of the key drivers of illegal immigration, and resolving the status of DACA recipients who were brought into the country by their parents.”