Exclusive – Sen. Ted Cruz Bill: Keep Title 42 Until Biden Drops Coronavirus Restrictions

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) proposed legislation on Thursday that would block President Joe Biden’s lifting of Title 42 until the administration dropped all coronavirus restrictions, Breitbart News can exclusively reveal.

Sens. Cruz, Mike Lee (R-UT), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the Protecting Americans from Unnecessary Spread upon Entry from COVID-19 Act of 2022, or the PAUSE Act of 2022.

The legislation would, if enacted, prevent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas from lifting Title 42 until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) traveler health risk levels for Canada and Mexico are reduced to the lowest level.

Title 42 is a public health authority that allows the federal government to easily deport illegal aliens and border crossers.

This serves as the Senate companion to Rep. Yvette Herrell’s (R-NM) bill, H.R. 471, which garnered significant support in the House, with 94 Republicans cosponsoring the bill. Herrell is the lead sponsor of Cruz’s SHIELD Act, which would codify Title 42 into law.

Cruz said in a statement to Breitbart News that lifting Title 42 would make the border catastrophically worse and Biden should not lift the vital border control authority until the administration also ends all coronavirus restrictions. He explained:

Title 42 protects our public health, and it also is the only tool currently being used to secure our border. If Title 42 is rescinded, it will make the crisis on the border catastrophically worse. Bottom line: As long as the Biden Administration maintains COVID-19 to be an emergency, we need Title 42.

If President Biden believes that COVID-19 is still such a threat that fully-vaccinated Americans must wear masks on public transportation, and the Department of Justice is trying to reinstate a mask mandate, then we must continue to block illegal entry into the United States on these same grounds. Texans do not want another COVID-19 outbreak and they do not want the even worse humanitarian crisis that will occur if President Biden revokes Title 42.

As long as this administration believes COVID-19 justifies restrictions on the people of Texas, we should be enforcing health-related restrictions along the border as well.

Biden has been blocked from ending Title 42, but it is likely that the administration will likely appeal the decision.

Biden officials have conceded that ending Title 42 could result in up to 500,000 border crossers could seek entry into the United States if the federal health authority is lifted. This means that roughly the population of Atlanta, Georgia could arrive at the border every month.

The mass migration lobby, with financial ties to billionaire George Soros, is using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to demand the United States open its borders to refugees from across Eastern Europe. https://t.co/RJXyJkrnwo

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 25, 2022

Lee explained Title 42 is the one federal tool that would hold back an “unprecedented surge of illegal immigrants.” He said:

Throughout his time in office, President Biden has been dedicated to restricting the freedoms of Americans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The one group that seems to be exempted from restrictions consists of illegal immigrants.  This administration has not been testing illegal immigrants for COVID, even though all Americans traveling overseas must be tested before they are allowed back into their own country.  Nor are illegal immigrants subject to any kind of COVID-19 vaccine requirement.  It is nothing short of astounding that the administration is now removing the one tool holding back an unprecedented surge of illegal immigrants.  Biden’s open border policies are dangerous for the health, wellbeing, and safety of the American people.

The PAUSE Act will ensure the last line of defense on our Southern Border is not abandoned by an administration that has no interest in upholding our immigration laws.

Sources with the DHS described the agency as a “full service travel agency” to Breitbart News’s John Binder.

“Democrats cannot, in one breath, argue a national public health emergency should remain in place, while simultaneously trying to roll back Title 42 border protections. It makes no sense. The people of Wyoming see the hypocrisy. I applaud Senator Cruz for introducing the PAUSE Act and bringing some common sense to this discussion,” Lummis said in a statement.

Herrell said in a statement, “Until all mandates, rules, and emergency declarations related to COVID-19 have ended, Title 42 border health protections must remain in place to prevent the introduction of new cases and new strains of the virus at our borders. It is fundamentally unfair to hold Americans to a higher standard than the thousands of illegal immigrants that Joe Biden is allowing to waltz into our communities. The PAUSE Act will preserve Title 42 and help prevent the further destruction of America’s borders by this administration.”