Biden Administration Might Want to Reconsider Canceling Title 42, As World Health Organization Issues Ominous New Warning
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is bracing for an even greater surge of illegal migrants when Title 42 is formally ended on May 11. Title 42 is a public health provision that was invoked at the onset of the COVID pandemic that allows for expulsion of illegal migrants.
Thankfully, the worst of the COVID pandemic is behind us, but in the last few weeks the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued ominous warnings of a new threat to global health. A civil war that is raging in Sudan not only portends more migrants fleeing that country, but, in the words of the WHO, there is a “high risk of biological hazard” that could spread globally. A spokesperson for WHO called “the lab takeover ‘extremely, extremely dangerous’ for the embattled country.”
In the course of the fighting in Sudan, a bio-lab in the capital city of Khartoum has been seized – and it is not even clear who has seized it. What matters most, is that whoever has control of the facility is not qualified to manage it. Additionally, the country’s power grid has been damaged, posing additional risks of release of dangerous materials.
According to the BBC, “Officials said that a broad range of biological and chemical materials are stored in the lab. The facility holds measles and cholera pathogens, as well as other hazardous materials.”
As we all learned from COVID, pathogens don’t stay put; they often cross borders in the bodies of unsuspecting people as they move from one place to another. The fighting in Sudan, combined with the lure of our wide-open borders, will almost certainly result in a growing number of Sudanese nationals attempting to enter the United States. In addition to other risks to the well-being of our country, the public health warning issued by the WHO adds another layer of concern.
These public health risks are exactly what Title 42 is designed to mitigate. If COVID taught us anything, it is that we need to take such warnings seriously and act preemptively, not reactively. The Biden administration succumbed to pressure from its far-left base to cancel Title 42, which is the last functioning mechanism still in place to remove even a modest number of people entering the country illegally. In the legitimate interest of protecting public health, the WHO warning presents the Biden administration with a valid reason for keeping Title 42 in place beyond May 11 and ensuring that our borders are secured.