Manchin lauds GOP leadership for border efforts.

Manchin Criticizes Biden’s Handling of Border Crisis, Praises GOP Leadership

Introduction

In an exclusive statement shared with the Washington Examiner, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the border crisis and praised House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) efforts to regain control of the situation.

Manchin’s Criticism of Biden

According to Manchin, the Biden administration’s two years of planning for this day has been a failure that will be fully realized in the coming days. “We are one day from the end of Title 42 and still the Biden Administration has no viable solution to prevent an unmanageable surge of migrants at our southern border,” Manchin said.

Manchin’s Proposed Solution

Manchin proposed a bipartisan solution that he introduced last week alongside Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and John Cornyn (R-TX). The bill would resemble protocols of Title 42, which was implemented in March 2020 to avoid filling Border Patrol stations with immigrants in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The bipartisan bill would extend a Title 42-like expulsion policy for the next two years until a better long-term solution can be found.

Manchin’s Praise for GOP Leadership

Manchin praised Republicans in the House of Representatives for working on a border security bill to fill the leadership vacuum created by the Biden administration. Last week, House Republicans debuted a 213-page border security and immigration bill that GOP leadership insisted would “end the crisis and restore sanity” if enacted.

Conclusion

Despite the concern from mostly Republicans over the up to 18,000 immigrants that agents could encounter daily come Thursday night when the policy expires, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said on Wednesday that it was using Title 42 in less than one-in-five illegal immigrant apprehensions. The change coming this evening will not make a huge impact on operations because agents have already largely transitioned to taking immigrants into custody rather than expelling them, according to Ortiz.