The deadline for Title 42, a public emergency health order implemented during the coronavirus pandemic under the Trump administration, is scheduled to be lifted December 21, and lawmakers are pressing the Biden administration to appeal a court ruling to end the program in order to ease mounting pressures at the border.
Rep. Vincente Gonzalez, D-Texas, says there needs to be a better system in place for migrants seeking asylum, though poverty should not be a qualifying reason to do so.
“We can’t cure every single problem for everyone in every country,” Gonzalez said on Meet the Press NOW, “I think more could be done for our neighboring countries. I think we should be addressing root causes and making investments that create conditions for people to stay in their country.”
Gonzalez supports reinstituting Title 42 if it means easing growing numbers of migrants flooding in at the southern border.
“I’ve actually written letters to the president asking him not to lift Title 42. ... He has plenty of reason not to,” Gonzalez said, “It gives us, the Congress and the White House, time to come up with a proposition.”
Gonzalez says Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is not to blame for the mounting issues at the border but rather partisan finger-pointing between Democrats and Republicans over the broader issue of border security.
“Everybody uses the border as a political backdrop regardless of what side is in power,” Gonzalez said, “what we need to do is come together as a country and come up with a proposal that will have a long term solution to our southern border.”
