Last week, the Biden administration announced that it would extend the Title 42 public health order. Title 42 allows immigration authorities to quickly remove illegal aliens from the country to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in processing facilities and within American communities. The extension reveals that the administration views the order as effective and should rightfully keep it in place as apprehension totals remain at historic levels and COVID-19 variants continue to proliferate.
The Afghanistan debacle is only the latest, and most damaging, policy failure on the part of an administration that is seemingly caught off-guard by the sun rising in the east. The Biden administration does not seem to grasp the connection between ideologically-driven actions and statements, and consequences.
The new regime in Kabul has reneged on its assurances of respect for human rights, women’s rights and free passage for those seeking to escape the Sharia hellhole the Taliban is imposing. As they rolled across Afghanistan, the Taliban freed some 5,000 prisoners who had been held at the Bagram Air Base, which the U.S. abandoned. In addition to the Taliban’s fighters, the hardened terrorists turned loose from Bagram reportedly include some associated with ISIS and al Qaeda.
In many cases, the Biden administration has blatantly ignored those suggested and urgent reforms. The evidence for that is proven by the mounting crisis at the southern border, the wholesale gutting of interior immigration enforcement, and the inadequate vetting of Afghan refugees seeking resettlement. The administration’s reckless approach jeopardizes national security and it must reverse course in order to avoid another catastrophe like September 11, 2001.
Recently, Dr. Anthony Fauci discussed the impact of COVID-19 at the southern border and the role of Title 42 — a public health order that allows for quick removal of illegal aliens from the country during disease outbreaks.
Rather than admit that COVID-19 remains a public health threat at the southern border and acknowledge that Title 42 remains necessary as illegal migration continues to reach historic levels, Dr. Fauci dismissed these realities.
With a more than seven-fold increase expected in the next few weeks, these flights should be expanded. In addition to allowing for safe and quick repatriation, they would also serve as a deterrent, discouraging more Haitians from attempting to cross the southern border unlawfully. With fewer individuals attempting to enter the country unlawfully, areas along the border would become decongested and help prevent the squalor and packed conditions seen last month.
ICE headquarters is still there on 12th St. S.W. in Washington, D.C. Dozens of field offices around the country remain. The 10,000 employees of the agency still collect paychecks. But as a result of two memos issued by Mayorkas, the agency’s immigration enforcement functions have virtually ceased to exist. To be clear, ICE wasn’t doing much even before Mayorkas issued his edicts – ICE agents were averaging one arrest every two and a half months – but now it’s official: ICE has been ordered to stand down.
The president’s allies in Congress seemingly drew a lesson from that debacle and appear determined not to get caught short when it comes to what seems like the Democrats’ single greatest political priority: gaining amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. After seeing Plans A and B dashed by Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, congressional Democrats are poised to invoke Plan C.
Two weeks ago in this space, FAIR boldly claimed that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had effectively abolished the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
We now must confess that we were premature in that declaration. Mayorkas was not finished. He still had more to do to make sure that our immigration laws are never enforced.
It is no secret that the Democrats’ “Build Back Better” package is becoming an abject disaster. Progressives are in the middle of a desperate attempt to pass every wish-list item imaginable before the 2022 midterms. Buried deep in the bill’s most recent text is a visa giveaway to powerful technology corporations that would allow them potentially to displace thousands of skilled Americans in favor of hiring foreigners.