RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Lawmakers are responding to Friday’s ruling regarding Title 42.
On Friday, a federal judge in Louisiana ruled Friday that the Biden administration must continue expelling migrants at the border under Title 42. The order was scheduled to end on May 23.
Several politicians have responded to the ruling, including Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28).
Cuellar stated that the decision is the “right one” for border communities.
“First of all, this is the right decision because you cannot have a federal public health order in the United States and then say there’s no problems at the border,” said Cuellar. “I have talked to Border Patrol and they have not received any resources and they were not going to any to be ready for May 23.
Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) also responded to the ruling stating the federal government needs to be sure all of the resources are in place to handle the lifting of Title 42.
“[The Biden] Administration needs to ensure that they have the proper resources at the Southern Border so that our local communities and organizations are not left out of the conversation,” said Gonzalez. “[Officials need] to make sure that if and when Title 42 is lifted, we continue the humane treatment of migrants looking to come into the United States while remaining committed to the health and safety of the people we are sworn to represent.”
State elected officials also responded to the news. State Representative Terry Canales (D-40) stated he agreed with the decision.
“The reality is that South Texas like the rest of the nation is still in the midst of a pandemic and we’ve been doing our best as a nation to be a good neighbor to Mexico and we’ve been sending mass amounts of vaccinations,” said Canales. “Opening the border, at this time, for people seeking asylum without any sort of barriers and safeguards for COVID-19 is absolutely irresponsible and I think it could have devastating effects on our economy.”
At the local level, Javier Villalobos, McAllen mayor, stated that the city supports the decision. Villalobos was outspoken about how the ending of Title 42 could impact McAllen.
“This [decision] will ensure that McAllen, and other border communities dealing with the surge of asylum-seekers will not be overrun by the estimated number of people waiting to enter the United States,” said the city of McAllen in a press release. “While McAllen and its partner, Catholic Charities were prepared to receive a larger number of immigrants this decision averted the potential for the situation to become untenable with more immigrants than could be safely and efficiently processed.”
As more politicians react to this ruling, ValleyCentral will provide more of their responses.
