Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) on Sunday said it is “past time” for the controversial border policy Title 42 to be lifted, saying the U.S. is in a “much different place” in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Padilla told ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz that the Biden administration has been preparing for months to lift the policy.
“Title 42 is not immigration policy,” the senator said. “We’re in a much different place when it comes to COVID today than we were two, almost three years ago. So it’s past time for Title 42 to be gone.”
Title 42, first implemented in 2020 during the Trump administration, allowed border officials to turn away migrants seeking asylum at the border citing a public health emergency related to the pandemic.
After months of legal wrangling, a federal judge last month ordered the Biden administration to phase out the policy during a period that ends on Wednesday.
The end of Title 42, which has allowed U.S. border officials to turn away some 2.5 million foreign nationals at the border since 2020, is being cheered by immigration activists who say the policy is cruel and unfair.
But it has also angered conservatives and border state officials who warn it could worsen a border crisis.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said his state is not prepared for the end of the Title 42 border policy, saying in an interview with ABC News this month that it could “break” his state.
Padilla on Sunday acknowledged the end of Title 42 would be a “challenge” but argued asylum claims must be processed lawfully.
“It’s our obligation to consider that and make a determination,” he said, adding elsewhere in the interview that the Biden administration should implement a new system at the border that is “orderly” and “more safe” for migrants.