by The United States is set to lift Title 42, the pandemic-era restriction that immediately removed immigrants without an asylum hearing, just before midnight Thursday. The expiration of the policy is expected to attract more immigrants and reduce processing times for immigrants in Border Patrol custody.
More than 11,000 migrants crossed the southern border on Tuesday, exceeding expectations of 10,000 a day that Department of Homeland Security officials predicted when Covid restrictions are lifted.
Congressional Democrats sharply criticized the GOP border bill when House Republicans unveiled it in late April, saying it would go beyond the scope of border security and punish all non-citizens, including legal residents, victims of trafficking and refugees.
NBC News requested comment before Thursday’s vote, the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., noted his comments during a news conference Wednesday, where he called the bill » Child Deportation Act» and characterized it as «one of the top priorities of the extreme MAGA Republicans.»
“How do you propose to address our broken and fragile immigration system? Well, they want to waste billions and billions of taxpayer dollars on a medieval border wall, a 14th century solution that won’t work for a 21st century challenge,” Jeffries said. «They continue to bend the knee to the former president of the United States of America, twice indicted in terms of his political proposals.»
“The Republican approach is rooted in xenophobia and fans the flames of hate and mistrust and irresponsible policies that will do nothing to solve the problem,” he added.
Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, echoed her fellow Democrats’ criticism of the bill on Thursday, casting it as a «product of the cruel and unworkable immigration policy of extreme Republicans.» «.
“This bill is an adoption of failed Trump-era policies that call for the criminalization of the right to seek asylum,” Barragán said during a press conference.
“He is anti-immigrant. He is anti-Latino and anti-American,” he said. “It is time for comprehensive immigration reform that is humane, that expands legal avenues for migration, protects its dreamers, and addresses the root causes of migration.”
