NC Democrats help Republican Sen. Tillis in push to send migrants away from border
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is getting help from two of North Carolina’s House Democrats in pushing for extension of a policy that allowed the government to send migrants away from the U.S. border.
On Friday morning, Reps. Don Davis and Wiley Nickel, Democrats from North Carolina, announced they have cosponsored a bill to extend Title 42. It’s a House bill that mirrors legislation Tillis is behind in the Senate that extends Title 42 for two years and outside the purview of a public health emergency.
Title 42 is a controversial policy that was set in motion in March 2020 under the Trump administration that allowed border officials to turn away migrants at the U.S. border if they posed a health risk to U.S. citizens. When President Joe Biden took office, he expanded on the policy.
But 11:59 p.m. Thursday marked the end of the U.S.’s public health emergency declared because of COVID-19, and with it all policies in place to protect Americans from the virus.
That included Title 42.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that smugglers near the southern U.S. border were telling migrants that the border would be open once the policy ended and that was leading to an increase in people trying to cross into the country.
Congress blamed the increase on Biden officials for failing to adequately prepare for the policy’s end. Mayorkas blamed Congress for refusing to provide him with $4 billion he says he needs to secure the southern border.
Tillis and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent from Arizona, introduced their bill in the Senate last week, but were under no illusion that getting the legislation passed would be quick enough or easy.
Both knew they needed the support of the House and of Democrats.
Tillis told McClatchy Wednesday outside the Senate chamber that he was working to get buy-in from both Democrats and members of the House in hopes they could originate a bill and pass it to the Senate.
House Republicans hold a slight majority over Democrats, while Tillis belongs to the the narrow minority in the Senate. Tillis predicted seeing a large number of migrants at the border overnight Thursday might cause others to act.
On Friday, Davis, a resident of Snow Hill, did just that. Davis said the end of Title 42 put unprecedented strain on law enforcement, nonprofits and family resources.
“I am proud to join a bipartisan, bicameral group of Members of Congress to pass legislation to help guarantee our great country is ready to meet this challenge head on,” Davis said in a statement. “While our bill is necessary, it is not a permanent solution to fix our broken immigration system.”
Davis called for immigration reform that includes comprehensive measures to secure the border.
Tillis reacted with a tweet pointing out “bipartisan agreement.”
“I am glad a bipartisan group in the House has introduced a companion version of my bill with @SenatorSinema to extend Title 42 expulsion authority,” he said. “The Biden Administration had no plan to mitigate the fallout of ending Title 42, and there is clearly bipartisan agreement that Congress needs to step in quickly to help prevent the border crisis from turning into a catastrophe.”
Immigration framework
Tillis and Sinema met with reporters inside the Senate Press Gallery Thursday morning and talked about the framework they’ve been working on since last fall to address immigration problems. Sinema said that includes border security issues, addressing the asylum crisis, closing loopholes and addressing issues around visas and Dreamers, the unauthorized migrants who arrived in the United States as minors.
Tillis told reporters that their framework is centered on consultation meetings they’ve had with the Border Patrol Council and what the Border Patrol thinks is needed.
He added that he and Sinema proposed the expansion of Title 42 to run for two years to give lawmakers time to work on broader immigration reform.
They were able to get support of three Democrats and four Republicans in the House to help champion their legislation.
Davis and Nickel were joined by Reps. Jared Goldman, a Democrat from Maine, Juan Ciscomani, a Republican from Arizona, Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania, David Valadao, a Republican from California, and Zach Nunn, a Republican from Iowa.
“With Title 42 set to expire, the time for decisive action at the southern border is now,” Nickel said in a statement. “While the administration announced several short-term steps, this is too little too late and Congress must act.”
Nickel said the bill allows time to secure the border and enact more meaningful, long-term reforms to the “overburdened immigration system.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2023 at 1:47 PM.
