The White House called for a “comprehensive” reform of the immigration policy of the United States after the decision of the Supreme Court to maintain the measure used to block migration and asylum applications.
“In order to fix our broken immigration system, Congress must adopt comprehensive immigration reform,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, a spokeswoman for President Joe Biden. Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the federal Administration will abide by the order, but she asked Congress to approve Immigration reform to solve the border crisis.
“Title 42 is a public health regulation, not an immigration policy, so it should not be maintained indefinitely,” the spokesperson claimed. The Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, agreed with a group of 19 state prosecutors who asked to maintain the application of Title 42, whose lifting was scheduled for December 21.
The regulations will remain in force as long as the high court studies the case during the first months of next year. The government spokesperson stated that the government will “of course” comply with the order of the Supreme Court, but it will be prepared for a possible lifting of the regulations during 2023.
They will continue to expel illegals
“We are making progress in our preparations to manage the border in a safe, orderly and humane manner when Title 42 is finally eliminated,” he said.
With or without Title 42, the spokeswoman insisted that the solution to the crisis on the border is in the hands of Congress, where Biden’s proposed immigration reform that calls for more funds to reinforce the border remains stalled.
“To really fix our broken immigration system, we need Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform with measures like the ones President Biden proposed on his first day in office,” he said.
In addition, he stressed that the Supreme Court order gives the Republicans, who will assume control of the House of Representatives in January, “a lot of time” to “join” the Democrats and resolve the immigration issue.
A federal judge had ordered the Joe Biden government to lift Title 42 on December 21, but a group of 19 prosecutors, including that of Texas, raised the issue before the Supreme Court. The White House had warned migrants that the end of Title 42 would not mean an open door policy and that those who entered the country illegally would continue to be expelled.