Immigration experts say the impending end of Title 42 immigration enforcement will serve to benefit cartel drug and child trafficking operations at the expense of Americans.
Lora Ries, a veteran of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told The Epoch Times that the coming influx of illegal immigrants will strip critical tools from Border Patrol and facilitate more cartel activity along the border.
“Ending Title 42 is helping the cartels because it’s taking a tool away from border agents,” said Ries, who has more than two decades of experience in immigration and homeland security.
Because no major policy changes seem forthcoming from President Joe Biden’s administration, “there will be more people coming and the cartels will get even richer,” she said.
Title 42 in U.S. law allows immigration officials to largely deny land entry, as a public health measure, to migrants who have recently been in countries where a transmissible disease was present. Significantly, illegal migrants captured under Title 42 are considered “expulsions” by the law, not “deportations,” and thus have no right to appeal before an immigration judge.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, then-President Donald Trump used this provision of law to substantially reduce the number of illegal migrants entering the country.
Despite professed disagreements with his predecessor on the issue of immigration, Biden has kept this policy intact.
But the policy is set to lapse on May 11, and in spite of the protestations of members of Congress from both parties, Biden has barreled ahead on his plan to end Title 42 enforcement.
At the same time, according to the most recent data, around half a million illegal immigrants are streaming into the country every month, leaving resources stretched thin and Border Patrol overwhelmed.
Estimates vary widely as to what the effect of the end of Title 42 will have on levels of illegal immigration, but experts say one thing is clear: Cartels stand to gain from the confusion and disorder that the end of Title 42 will bring.
In preparation for the expiration of Title 42, Biden ordered an additional 1,500 troops to assist the Border Patrol. But like the 2,500 troops already there, these new troops will serve only in an auxiliary capacity, carrying out tasks such as data entry, transportation, and other menial chores to allow Border Patrol to focus on law enforcement.
Ira Mehlman, a spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said that cartels are the “No. 1” beneficiaries of the end of Title 42.
“The people who benefit are, No. 1, the cartels because it increases their business,” Mehlman said when asked who stands to gain from the end of Title 42.
This multibillion-dollar business is facilitated by the administration’s policies.
In addition, Mehlman noted that it benefits illegal aliens themselves.
Selective Enforcement
On the other hand, both Ries and Mehlman noted that the enforcement of Title 42 has been selective.Generally, only single, unaccompanied men, accounting for around 19 percent of apprehensions, have been expelled under the program.
Nevertheless, Mehlman emphasized that Title 42 has served as a psychological deterrent. Often, illegal immigrants pay cartels nearly their entire life savings for a shot at entering the United States. The awareness that it could all be for naught if they were apprehended under Title 42 has kept many from coming, Mehlman said.
But as the administration continues with its plan to end Title 42 enforcement over bipartisan opposition, that’s about to come to an end.
Ries, who most recently served under the Trump administration, said that in view of this fact, the end of Title 42 wouldn’t be the end of the world in and of itself.
Inasmuch as the policy is a COVID-era holdover, she said, “It makes sense to end it.”
However, Ries said the panic over the program ending reveals the need for Border Patrol to have “a general authority” to make arrests and prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country.
Drugs
The biggest benefits of ending Title 42 will be for cartel drug smuggling operations, experts say.Cartels regularly move enough narcotics across the border to kill the entire population of the United States many times over.
Due to inspections and apprehensions, many of these drugs are found and seized near the border. By increasing the overall influx of illegal immigrants, experts said, the end of Title 42 will mean far more success in transporting drugs across the border.
Ries explained: “When you prevent illegal immigration, then the cartels have far fewer drug runners to transport the drugs to our southern border.
“If the border agents aren’t having to respond to so many people appearing on our southern border, then they are more effective at catching drugs. More drugs caught puts a dent in the cartels’ business.”
‘This Is Going to Hurt Children’
Tara Rodas, a whistleblower who earlier revealed that the U.S. government was acting as a “middleman” for cartel child trafficking operations, told The Epoch Times that the end of Title 42 “is going to hurt children.”The United States currently operates a network of processing facilities for migrant children along the southern border.
Many children who enter the United States illegally come on the dime of drug cartels, who in turn sell the children into sex slavery or child labor. Rodas revealed that due to improper vetting, limited staff, and an emphasis on “speed over safety,” the federal government had become a crucial part of cartel operations.
Due to a top-down emphasis on speed over safety, Rodas said, many children have been sent to sponsors with no biological relation to them. In several cases, children were given to sponsors later discovered to be associated with MS-13 and other cartels.
Asked whether she thought the facilities would be prepared for a potential influx of many more children after the end of Title 42, Rodas replied emphatically: “No, no, they’re not going to be prepared. No, they’re not.”
Adding to the difficulty of ensuring safety were a handful of executive decrees from Biden that substantially reduced vetting requirements, including things as simple as a background check of sponsors or knowing who would be in the home with the children.
These revelations made Rodas realize that the federal government was essentially facilitating a massive cartel human smuggling operation.
It’s unclear what effect the end of Title 42 will have on the number of children entering the United States illegally. However, with processing facilities already overwhelmed, Rodas said she is concerned that the emphasis on speed over the safety of children will only get worse.
She cited earlier comments from Xavier Becerra, secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). In a leaked conference call with HHS officials, Becerra called for processing facilities to function like “a Ford assembly line.”
This will only get worse if there’s an influx of new illegal immigrant children after the end of Title 42, Rodas said, adding that the solution to this concern is simple.
First, she said Biden must repeal his executive guidance reducing vetting requirements for children. In addition, Rodas called for DNA testing of sponsors.
Bipartisan Opposition to Ending the Program
Pushback for Biden’s plan to end the program has come from across party lines in Congress.Earlier this month, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) introduced legislation that would allow Title 42 enforcement to continue after the May 11 deadline.
In an emailed comment to The Epoch Times on the bill, Tillis said: “The Biden Administration has failed to secure the border and the situation will get even worse once Title 42 is allowed to expire. It’s clear that Congress must immediately step in.
“The bipartisan bill I’m introducing with Senator Sinema will help prevent the catastrophic fallout at the border we will soon see if no action is taken.”
In a May 7 interview on CBS, Sinema, a former Democrat turned independent, also condemned the administration’s lack of preparedness.
“The Biden administration had two years to prepare for the end of Title 42 and did not do so. And our state is going to bear the brunt,” the Arizona lawmaker said.
After the introduction of this bill, Sinema’s colleague Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and other Democrats also denounced the administration’s handling of the border.
During an April interview with 12News, Kelly admitted that he did “not have a high level of confidence” in Biden’s plan for Title 42.
“On May 11, we expect higher levels of migrants, and I made it clear to [the White House] that it is unacceptable to be releasing people into the streets and communities across Arizona,” Kelly said.
Last year, Kelly defeated a challenge from Blake Masters, who made a tough-on-immigration stance a key pillar of his campaign.
Solutions
Experts offered their opinions on several possible solutions to address the end of Title 42 and broader immigration concerns.Ries said that encouraging the passage of H.R. 2 would be the best thing Biden could do to prepare for the end of Title 42.
“What [Biden] should do is encourage the Senate to pass H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act,” she said. The bill’s toughest hurdle will come in the Senate, where at least 11 Democrats would need to sign on to pass it.
“Encourage the Senate to pass it and sign the bill,” she said. “Because that would give the authority to quickly expel inadmissible aliens when some or all of the border is not under operational control. It would also prevent a lot of this legal illegal immigration in the first place.”
Mehlman’s response was more simple: “The most important thing would just be to enforce the laws on the books.”
Still, he said there were several steps Biden could take, specifically by reinstating successful Trump-era policies.
Mehlman mentioned Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. Under this policy, those seeking asylum were required to remain outside the United States until their applications had been accepted. According to testimony a former Border Patrol official gave to Congress, 90 percent of those applications were denied.
Under Biden, “Remain in Mexico” has been done away with, replaced instead with “catch-and-release,” whereby those apprehended are released into the interior while awaiting their court date.
Biden also overturned a Trump policy that required genuine asylees to seek asylum in the first safe country they came to, rather than proceeding to the United States.
These and other policies, Mehlman said, sent a clear message to would-be illegal immigrants: “Don’t do this because you’re not going to succeed.”
Ries confirmed that during her time with DHS, the driving motive of border policy was to prevent illegal immigration.
Under Biden, both Ries and Mehlman said, the priority has been on processing as many illegal aliens as possible as quickly as possible.
They were dismissive of Biden’s move to send troops to the border, noting that these will be performing remedial auxiliary tasks such as data entry and transportation rather than law enforcement.
The solution, both stated, is to allow Border Patrol agents to do their jobs and to give them the resources they need to do so.
DHS and HHS didn’t return inquiries from The Epoch Times.
