Ron Klain on Sunday morning blamed the ongoing migrant crisis on Congress, claiming they have not approved requested aid to secure the southern border as the administration prepares for a massive influx of migrants once its pandemic-era protections are dropped next month.
‘Look, we need to do more work at the border,’ President Joe Biden‘s chief of staff told ABC’s This Week host George Stephanopoulos.
‘The president sent an immigration plan to Congress on his first day in office,’ he explained. ‘We’ve asked consistently for more resources.’
The comment comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday that on May 23 it will end Title 42, which allowed for the instant deportation of asylum-seekers – without hearing their claims – in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even some Democrats are coming out against the move, claiming that there is not a good alternative in place to quell the crisis at the southern border once Title 42 is no longer in play.
Klain assured on Sunday that the administration has put in place safeguards that will help Border Patrol and other immigration agencies ‘process asylum claims more clearly’ once the policy ends.
But the chief of staff said while there are warnings that border crossings could tripling come late May, Biden’s team is also concerned with making sure legit asylum claims are being heard.
‘We also have to be honest about what’s happening at the border,’ he said. ‘We have people showing up with asylum claims from places like Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil. People fleeing regimes where they are feeling persecution, coming here to make asylum claims.’
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain seemed to suggest Sunday that Congress is to blame for the southern border crisis
Since Biden took office in January 2021, CBP has encountered more than 2.2 million migrants and the border – and that number could as much as triple with the end of Title 42
‘I think the goal for everyone should be to make sure those asylum claims, those claims of people fleeing persecution, are heard in a prompt way. Those who deserve protection from prosecution get that protection.’
‘Those who don’t are promptly sent back to where they came from.’
Some reports last month show estimates where at least 170,000 migrants are waiting on the Mexico side of the border ready to claim asylum on the U.S. side once Title 42 is lifted.
Since Title 42 was put in place, more than a million migrants apprehended at the border have been rapidly expelled to Mexico or other countries, often within hours of being caught.
Also starting from the time Biden took office, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has encountered more than 2.2 million migrants illegally crossing or claiming asylum at the southern border.
From February 2021 – the first full month of Biden’s presidency – to the end of last Fiscal Year on the last day of September 2021, at least 1.44 million migrants were apprehended or encountered.
So far in Fiscal Year 2022, which started on October 1, 2021, encounters have reached 838,635.
Experts warn that the migration influx at the southern border could triple once Title 42 ends on May 23. Pictured: Migrants in Mexico take part in a caravan towards the U.S. from in Tapachula, on Friday April 1
And now, CBP officials are warning that in the first six months of FY2022, the U.S. will see a minimum of 1 million encounters. Numbers for March will likely be released some time in mid-April.
Some Democrats broke last week with the party after news broke of the end of the policy.
They claimed the administration doesn’t have any alternatives in place to quell the impending mass migration influx.
Moderate Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema said that she and fellow Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, also a Democrat, spoke with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about not ending Title 42 until there are other safeguards in place at the border.
‘We spoke with the @DHSgov Secretary about the administration’s Title 42 contingency plans following our letter to the President urging him not to end Title 42 without a comprehensive plan to support border communities,’ Sinema tweeted Wednesday of her and Kelly’s meeting.
She said in a statement following the meeting of her border state constituents and illegal border crossers: ‘Ending Title 42 without a comprehensive plan in place puts at risk the health and safety of migrants and Arizona communities.’
Sinema is chairwoman of the Senate Subcommittee on Border Management.
‘There is still not an adequate plan or sufficient coordination to end Title 42 without further straining our law enforcement, border communities, and nonprofits providing humanitarian assistance to migrants,’ junior Arizona Senator Kelly said in a statement on the meeting with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to discuss the Administration’s Title 42 contingency plan.
‘We’ll continue to push the Biden administration for the resources and support Arizona needs amid this crisis at our southern border,’ Kelly added.
Compounding the migration crisis are Ukrainians fleeing Europe after Russia invaded on February 24. Pictured: Aerial view of Ukrainians seeking asylum in the U.S. in a makeshift camp at the San Ysidro Crossing port in Tijuana, Baja California State of Mexico on Saturday, April 2
Senator Joe Manchin – who completes the moderate Democratic trifecta with Kelly and Sinema – also told reporters on Thursday that the administration should drop plans to scrap the Trump-era policy.
New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassen also tweeted Wednesday: ‘I am concerned that there is not a sufficient plan in place to address the steep increase in border crossings that could result from this reported decision.’
‘This preemptive repeal threatens border security at a time when the administration should be focused on strengthening it,’ she added.
The CDC is giving the administration two months to prepare for a possible tripling of migration at the southern border.
Title 42 was enacted under former President Donald Trump and allows for the instant expulsion of migrants and the ability to withhold hearing their asylum claims in the midst of the public health emergency.
Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas warned Wednesday of a human ‘tsunami’ at the border with the end of Title 42.