Twenty-four Republican governors have responded to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for help to secure its border with Mexico.
“The federal government’s response handling the expiration of Title 42 has represented a complete failure of the Biden Administration,” the governors said in a joint statement, referring to the end of the public health authority, Title 42, which expired at midnight on May 11.
Title 42 allowed for the quick expulsion of foreign nationals who’d entered the U.S. illegally during the COVID-19 pandemic. With its end, an estimated 150,000 foreign nationals from all over the world are waiting in Mexico to illegally enter the U.S. at any moment, border officials say.
This is after at least more than 7 million people have been apprehended or reported evading capture by law enforcement since President Joe Biden’s been in office.
The Biden administration recently sent 1,500 military personnel to the border and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent several thousand federal employees to help Border Patrol agents expedite processing of foreign nationals into the U.S., not to block their entry, administration officials have explained.
While doing so, the president and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas continue to argue the border is closed.
Within the past few days, groups of tens of thousands of foreign nationals arrived in the Rio Grande Valley and in other areas of Texas, overwhelming Border Patrol agents, officials said. Abbott has already sent more than 10,000 Texas National Guard troops to the border as border communities continue to declare emergencies.
