Jim Baird: “I thank my colleague from Louisiana for this opportunity to speak about title 42. Mr. Speaker, in the last 14 months…”

“I thank my colleague from Louisiana for this opportunity to speak about title 42. Mr. Speaker, in the last 14 months, this administration and its open- door policies have created the worst border crisis we have seen in decades, leaving our southern border very vulnerable to the dangerous cartels and our communities are vulnerable to the lethal drugs that they bring in. Every day, 2,000 migrants evade capture and illegally enter our country. That is over 300,000 illegal immigrants evading capture in the last 6 months alone. Unfortunately, our Border Patrol warns us that this is only the known gotaways, and that the real number is likely much higher. By the President's own admission, rolling back title 42 would cause a mass migration event and would certainly overwhelm our already overworked and undersupported Border Patrol. Not only are Americans still held to a higher COVID protocol standard than the migrants at our southern border, but title 42 remains one of the only tools our overrun agents can use to get this swelling crisis under control. Ending title 42 won't help President Biden fulfill his State of the Union promise to secure the southern border, it will only make this crisis that the administration has created more unsustainable.”