Even as our country tries to return to a post-pandemic “normal,” the Biden administration is about to make it harder—by unleashing a tidal wave of increased risk and exposure from COVID-19 from outside our borders.
Over the past two years, we have made enormous sacrifices; experienced loss; and accepted government mandates affecting every aspect of our lives, pressed by an administration that claims to be simply “following the science.” We’ve all been expected to obey as our elites told us what was best for our individual health or that of our children.
We want to believe the worst of this pandemic is behind us and that the sacrifices haven’t been in vain. But many mandates remain, we’re now learning of yet another variant, and the Biden administration’s favored medical experts are warning us that living with COVID-19 will be part of our “new normal”—apparently forever.
And this same administration is about to end Title 42, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s order, which began under the Trump administration and was designed to keep COVID-19 from being imported across our borders.
Since its inception in early 2020, Title 42 has saved countless American lives and reduced untold suffering. Its acknowledged effectiveness is why the Biden administration continued using Title 42 for over a year, resulting in more than a million illegal aliens—mostly single adults—being denied entry into the U.S.
The U.S. has made tremendous strides in our testing capacity and vaccine availability, something that can’t be said for countries with the highest rate of aliens illegally entering the U.S. from Central America. Haiti has one of the lowest vaccine rates, due to poor infrastructure to distribute the shots, with only 0.94% of people having two doses. Jamaica is just at 22% double-vaccination rate. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras all have increased COVID-19 cases per 1 million in population.
In other words, while the Biden administration is telling us we’re nowhere near being past COVID-19, it’s going to end the one authority giving the men and women on the front lines of our nation’s borders the ability to reduce the continuing introduction of the same infectious disease entering the U.S. from countries where cases are increasing and vaccine rates are well below “herd” immunity levels.
Staggering numbers of positive COVID-19 cases have been identified among the illegal alien population this past year. Ending Title 42 defies logic, common sense, and medical science.
Smuggling organizations have already begun to exploit the potential demise of Title 42, convincing millions of migrants that our southern border will now be wide open and they will no longer be removed. The influx for March is anticipated to be more than 200,000.
Border Patrol’s own embattled chief, Raul Ortiz, even had to admit that 7,000-8,000 apprehensions per day could “become the norm.” But as usual, he provided no solution to secure our borders or reduce the incentives created by this administration’s ideologically driven open-border policy. It’s unconscionable.
And with the unlawful, expanding use of “parole” and the newly created Southwest Border Coordination Center, the goal is clear. It’s not about securing our borders—it’s about getting better and faster at processing and releasing those who illegally enter our country, regardless of what disease they may be carrying. There will be no COVID-19 testing or vaccine mandates for the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens they will release into the U.S. under the cover of darkness.
And what about the border agents? These heroes who stand at our nation’s gateways, protecting us against a vast set of complex threats? They will now be forced to deal with increased strain on an already overwhelmed system—putting their own health, and that of their families, at greater risk, along with the entire nation.
No matter what explanation this administration offers about why they’re ending Title 42, the only science being followed is their own politically driven science. They’re putting America last once again and costing more American lives.
This piece originally appeared in The Washington Times.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email [email protected] and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.
