Texas Border Business
By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez
In a recent Fox News interview, Art del Cueto, the Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council, discussed the challenges border patrol agents face. He explained that agents are primarily stationed in processing centers instead of actively protecting the nation’s borders, where they fingerprint incoming groups and verify their records before ultimately releasing them. This situation frustrates agents who joined the force to defend the country’s borders.
Title 42, a section of the United States Code (USC) that pertains to public health, welfare, and safety, has been a topic of discussion as it was expected to end last year but has now been extended until May 11th.
Administered mainly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Title 42 covers multiple topics, including public health service, health research, health care quality, mental health, and substance abuse.
In relation to immigration policy, Title 42’s Section 265 has been invoked, allowing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to deny entry to individuals if their presence would pose a public health risk. This provision was used in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable the swift expulsion of migrants at the U.S. border without standard legal processes like asylum hearings in an effort to curb the virus’s spread.
Title 42, in this context, has been controversial, as opponents argue that it violates asylum seekers’ rights and is not a necessary public health measure. Conversely, supporters insist it is crucial to protect both migrants and the U.S. population from the virus.
