(Headline USA) Three GOP states sued the Biden administration this week over its plans to end Title 42, a Trump-era immigration policy that allowed border officials to immediately turn away illegal immigrants.
The attorneys general from Arizona, Louisiana, and Missouri announced the lawsuit on Monday, arguing that President Joe Biden’s decision to end Title 42 by the end of May will worsen the border crisis.
“This suit challenges an imminent, man-made, self-inflicted calamity: the abrupt elimination of the only safety valve preventing this Administration’s disastrous border policies from devolving into an unmitigated chaos and catastrophe,” the complaint states.
The Trump administration implemented Title 42 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic under recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health officials said it would prevent COVID-19 from spreading in migrant detention facilities.
But Republicans have argued the policy is still necessary given the massive surges of migration that border states have experienced over the past year.
“We want to stop the Biden administration from rescinding Title 42 because it may be one of the most boneheaded decisions of this administration, and they have done a lot of dumb things,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich told Fox News.
Even two Democratic senators – Arizona’s Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema – agreed that the Biden administration’s rush to end Title 42 is premature.
“Prematurely ending Title 42 without a comprehensive, workable plan would put at risk the health and safety of Arizona communities and migrants,” Sinema said in a statement.
Kelly agreed: “This is the wrong decision. It’s unacceptable to end Title 42 without a plan and coordination in place to ensure secure, orderly, and humane process at the border.”
Biden has repealed a number of immigration restrictions put in place by the Trump administration, including the construction of a southern border wall. He is also trying to repeal the “Remain in Mexico” program, which requires migrants to wait in Mexico while awaiting their asylum hearings.
