Texas Republicans want their own Title 42, a state version of the federal pandemic policy that President Donald Trump created and President Joe Biden has…
Texas Republicans want their own Title 42, a state version of the federal pandemic policy that President Donald Trump created and President Joe Biden has relied on to ship migrants out of the U.S. and into Mexico.
We said it about the federal rule and we will say it about the proposed state law: Using COVID-19 as an immigration tool is the wrong approach.
The federal policy should have expired when COVID was no longer a public health crisis. Texas shouldn’t be in the business of piggybacking on federal error.
State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, has introduced House Bill 1491, which would create the Texas version of Title 42. The bill ties ongoing federal COVID vaccination requirements to the removal of migrants from Texas. Harrison, who was Health and Human Services chief of staff during the Trump administration, helped coordinate the application of Title 42.
The federal policy is currently under U.S. Supreme Court review, and whether it will survive is anyone’s guess. It shouldn’t because COVID is no longer a public health threat.
Under the rule, immigration authorities can expel migrants attempting to cross the border illegally. But because claims aren’t actually processed, migrants just try and try again. According to a Texas Tribune analysis of the fiscal year 2022, a quarter of apprehensions at the border were repeat attempts.
Meanwhile, there is a bottleneck of asylum seekers at the border. But there is no real movement to provide the resources to rapidly process claims.
We think Harrison’s bill opens the door to a federal lawsuit because it cedes immigration enforcement to the state from the federal government. Harrison disagrees and told us that his bill is “absolutely constitutional” because it is not an immigration bill, but a health policy bill.
If passed, the law would be in place as long as the federal public health emergency for COVID-19 persists, something the Biden administration is planning to end in May.
This hasn’t stopped Gov. Greg Abbott from supporting this legislation, meaning it can get traction in the Legislature even if the health emergency is declared over.
Harrison said H.B. 1491 will change nothing for asylum seekers who use a legal port of entry. But he also told Fox 4 News (KDFW-TV) that this law will use the “public health authority to shut down the border and immediately begin deporting illegal immigrants the minute they cross.”
The bill is a problem from start to finish, but we aren’t surprised it’s come to this, even if there’s a special irony in Republicans relying on COVID to accomplish their policy goals.
For too long, Republicans and Democrats have allowed the border crisis to continue without accepting compromise for real reform.
Meanwhile, as H.B. 1491 progresses, Customs and Border Protection announced that January is on track to logthe lowest number of monthly border encounters since February 2021. It’s too soon to tell, but the decreased numbers may relate to a recent federal parole program, a signal that actual immigration policy, not public health posturing, is what we need.
Even so, Texas Republicans are unlikely to change their minds, and we may end up with a state health law to stop unauthorized immigration that is politically motivated, unhelpful and most likely unconstitutional.
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