PHOENIX, AZ — In response to reports that that the Biden Administration will lift Title 42 border restrictions, Governor Doug Ducey sent a letter to the heads of Homeland Security and the CDC asking for reconsideration.
The Governor is urging Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle P. Walensky not to lift a public health rule known as Title 42, which allows federal officials to prohibit the entry of those who potentially pose a health risk, including COVID-19.
In less than 12 hours, 2 large groups, totaling more than 160 migrants, illegally crossed into the #USA and surrendered to #Tucson Sector #BorderPatrol agents. Over 80 were unaccompanied #migrant children, primarily from Guatemala. pic.twitter.com/wVs9f5hi3r
— John R. Modlin (@USBPChiefTCA) July 13, 2021
“I urge you to keep these restrictions in place. Lifting them will threaten the health and safety of not only Arizonans, but all Americans, and our already broken border will explode, overwhelming border patrol, law enforcement, non-profits and health care professionals,” the Governor wrote to Mayorkas and Walensky. “By lifting this policy, the Biden administration will be responsible for not only exacerbating our border crisis, but in effect, proactively and knowingly importing COVID-19 variants into the United States, starting in our border states.
“Title 42 is one of the only measures remaining in place which allows not only the federal authorities but also state and local public health professionals to maintain public health that they have worked so hard for over the past 17 months of this pandemic,” Ducey wrote.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting “the pandemic is raging in South America, which has just 5% of the world’s population but now accounts for a quarter of the global death toll.”
On June 10, Governors Ducey and Greg Abbott, of Texas, requested all U.S. governors to send available law enforcement resources to their states along the U.S.-Mexico border as illegal border crossings, apprehensions and unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody increase.