End of Title 42 Gives Texas, Red States Chance to Stand Up to D.C.
Luis Miguel
Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

The wave is coming. Will this be the end of the nation? Or will this be the moment the courageous few patriots left in government take a stand?

The end of the Title 42 immigration rule on Thursday night has thrown the country into a renewed migration crisis. The White House has made perfectly clear by now that it will do nothing to stop what amounts to an invasion with existential consequences. And no one else in the federal government appears to have the resolve, the interest, or the power to do anything about it either.

Amid Washington’s total abdication of responsibility on the migration question, the burden of protecting the sovereignty and national security of the country now falls squarely on the shoulders of the states.

The question is: Will they take the initiative? Will they break free of the inertia that has become all-too prevalent among America’s elected representatives? Or will they simply stand idly by and do nothing more than complain about Washington’s inaction, which is the only thing most Republicans have done up to this point?

While in office, President Trump astutely oversaw the enactment of Title 42 to stem the tide of illegal migrants amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Under Title 42, U.S. officials were empowered to turn away illegal aliens as a means of protecting public health. Although Title 42 did not charge the deported individuals with criminal penalties, resulting in many attempting to cross multiple times, it was still a preferable situation to what had existed before.

Under Title 8, which was the status quo prior to Title 42 and became the norm once more upon Title 42’s expiration at 11:59 p.m. on May 11, migrants who crossed the border were often released into the country while they waited for their cases to be heard.

The inevitable consequence of this policy was that many illegal aliens simply disappeared, never showing up for their hearings. Obviously, such migrants know that their claims to asylum are bogus and are likely to be rejected. They were simply seeking to abuse our open border and flawed asylum system to get into the country and then stay here illicitly. 

With Title 42 ending, migrants are already lining up by the thousands at the border to claim what they believe to be a free entry into the United States of America.

The Washington Post reported on the chaos enveloping the border:

Illegal border crossings have topped 10,000 per day this week, the highest levels ever, as the Title 42 border policy was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Thousands of migrants forded the Rio Grande into the Brownsville, Tex., area, or arrived elsewhere, including more than 800 miles away on the dusty strip of U.S. land between the riverbanks and the border wall east of downtown El Paso.

… A memo issued Wednesday by Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz authorized supervisors in overcrowded areas to quickly release migrants using an authority he called “Parole with Conditions.” Migrants will be vetted and directed to report to U.S. immigration authorities in their destination cities within 60 days.

… The Border Patrol has averaged 8,750 migrant encounters per day over the past week, the memo noted, more than twice as many as the peak of the 2019 crisis when record numbers of Central American families overwhelmed the Trump administration.

The Biden White House may not say so out loud, but this overwhelming of the border is precisely what they want. The demographic fallout of such an invasion will be far-reaching and transformative.

In the face of such a dire crisis, true patriot statesmen cannot afford to remain spectators. This is a golden opportunity for states such as Texas to reclaim the state sovereignty they so often claim to believe in.

Of course, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is taking action to try to prevent the entry of migrants and to apprehend those who get in, deploying Texas National Guardsmen and state police for that purpose. 

Nevertheless, even such action will prove fruitless if Texas is not willing to go toe-to-toe with the federal government’s unconstitutional handling of the migration crisis.

Given the fact that the border is inadequately sealed off (it sure is too bad no one thought about building a wall, right?), it’s inevitable that vast numbers of migrants are going to enter.

Now, Texas authorities can apprehend the migrants who successfully make it in and put them in detention centers temporarily. The problem is that, given the current rules, Texas cannot just go ahead and deport them — they have to let them go on their merry way into the country.

Therein lies the problem. What good are Texas’ efforts to catch the migrants if they’re simply going to help them along to their destination?

What Texans should do is refuse to acknowledge the asylum claims of these migrants and take deportation into their own hands.

Of course, this will fly right in the face of the federal government and doubtless provoke backlash and lawsuits.

But such an action by Texas would be in line with the government’s role to protect the nation against invasion. And it is the only action that will save the country from the long-term consequences of this migrant wave.

Texas should not go it alone. Every red state, including Florida, should get on board, providing Texas, and any other border state willing to defend the border, with resources and personnel, as well as legal support against the expected pushback from D.C.

Such measures may seem extreme. But we are living in extreme times, and the nation’s survival is at stake.