The Biden administration is set to end former President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) mandate amid the worsening southern border crisis.
The White House announced on Monday that it will terminate PHE on May 11, 2023. Republican lawmakers previously proposed ending the emergency immediately, but the administration argued that the country needs time to prepare for the possible repercussions.
“An abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system — for states, for hospitals and doctors’ offices, and, most importantly, for tens of millions of Americans,” the White House said in a statement.
The end of the PHE will also terminate the use of “Title 42,” a controversial border policy implemented by Trump back in March 2020 that allowed the border agency to turn migrants away.
The administration has attempted to get rid of the Trump-era border policy, but was blocked by the Supreme Court last year. The White House said the Republican legislation attempting to end the PHE would “allow thousands of migrants per day into the country.”
“The Administration supports an orderly, predictable wind-down of Title 42, with sufficient time to put alternative policies in place. But if H.R. 382 becomes law and the Title 42 restrictions end precipitously, Congress will effectively be requiring the Administration to allow thousands of migrants per day into the country immediately without the necessary policies in place,” the statement continued.
This comes as the Biden administration continues to struggle with the massive influx of migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico.
Since then, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reported that nearly 2.4 million migrants were detained at the border for the fiscal year ending in September, surpassing the already-historic 1.7 million migrant detainees last year. The numbers are likely to only increase with the impending ending of “Title 42.”
The DHS has said repeatedly that it has a six-point plan in place to deal with the imminent influx in population that it anticipates will occur. This includes an increase in resources and manpower, as well as a greater use of alternative authorities more frequently.
