Katko: Ending Title 42 is Throwing Gasoline On a Raging Fire

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. John Katko (R-NY), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, released the following statement in response to the Biden administration’s announcement that it is terminating Title 42.

“With today’s irresponsible rollback of the Title 42 public health authority, the Biden administration is throwing gasoline on a raging fire. The consistent erosion of Title 42 from this administration has become a pull factor that has undoubtedly contributed to the record-breaking number of encounters at our border over the last year.

“CBP is now seeing over 7,000 encounters daily and is bracing for a significant mass influx of migrants of nearly 18,000 daily over the next few weeks. Earlier this fiscal year, CBP predicted 2 million encounters by the end of FY22. However, in just a few days, we will see 1 million encounters in less than six months. Moreover, this reckless move further lines the pockets of the cartels and human traffickers who have profited exorbitantly from President Biden’s rollback of commonsense border security policies.

“Numerous countries continue to struggle with the rapid spread of COVID-19 and strengthening variants. The very purpose of Title 42 is to prevent the introduction of any dangerous communicable disease into the United States. As the U.S. finally gets a handle on managing the spread of new variants and moves steadily toward a post-pandemic recovery, now is not the time to end the use of Title 42 and jeopardize all of that progress. The bottom line is that our border security and immigration system cannot handle any more pull factors as the Biden administration has proven unwilling to secure the border. The President and his administration continue to strip every tool for managing the border crisis away from the frontline law enforcement. It’s past time the administration provides the American people with an immediate plan to address the even larger surge of migrants headed to the border.”