A bipartisan group of senators led by Republican Thom Tillis of North Carolina and independent Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona introduced immigration legislation Thursday intended to counter an influx of migrants expected at the border when a Covid-era border restriction ends next week.
The legislation is not a true extension of Title 42, which allowed border authorities to quickly expel certain migrants citing a public health emergency, and it’s not expected to pass before the border policy expires.
But the narrow bill, according to a Sinema aide, would seek to give the Biden administration more flexibility in how it handles migrants at the border. It would give the administration a two-year expulsion authority that would apply to migrants who were trying to come to the US illegally without proper documents. The bill will include some exceptions and carveouts for migrants whose lives could be in jeopardy or who could be tortured if they were returned to their home countries. The aide said the bill would also provide some exception for migrants who are experiencing an urgent medical need.
Without Title 42, the primary border enforcement tool since March 2020, authorities will be returning to decades-old protocols at a time of unprecedented mass migration in the Western hemisphere, which is raising concerns about a surge in migrants after the border restriction is lifted – a potential political vulnerability for President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats facing reelection next year. The new legislative effort comes as the Biden administration has been racing to set in motion plans to stem the flow of migration.
“What we’re trying to do is make it as clean as possible, basically extending the current policy,” Tillis told reporters. “I think that you will, after next week, have a growing number of people saying we at least need this in place so that we can sort out…
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