Kamala Harris is lying, only the president and not Congress can declare a border national emergency, re-establish the U.S.-Mexico Remain in Mexico agreement and Title 42 removals

On Oct. 6, Vice President Kamala Harris did an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes once again renewing her plea for Congress to bring back legislation it already rejected that would have allowed more than 1.4 million illegal alien entries per year while limiting the President’s authority to close the border, declaring, “we need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem…” As if the President under current law needed Congress to act, when the administration is already authorized at the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) level to police the border and expedite removals of illegal immigrants, and Trump had otherwise repurposed military spending to build the southern border wall under his national emergency declaration.

As for closing the border, that’s easy, all the President has to do is restore title 42 removals that former President Donald Trump utilized during Covid—President Joe Biden ended it May 2023 — and by finishing the wall by restoring the national emergency Trump declared in 2019, which Biden also ended.

The border emergency would only be activated on a mandatory basis when the seven-day rolling average of illegal entries did not hit 5,000 illegal aliens a day: “The Secretary shall activate the border emergency authority if… during a period of 7 consecutive calendar days, there is an average of 5,000 or more aliens who are encountered each day; or… on any 1 calendar day, a combined total of 8,500 or more aliens are encountered.” And, at the 3,000 a day level, under which the President would have been prohibited from closing the border, that would have guaranteed at least 1.1 million illegal entries every year, even if former President Donald Trump is elected this year.

Despite CBS News’ pressing Harris, she refused to answer why the Biden administration had ended the Trump border policies — namely, build the wall, Remain in Mexico and Title 42 — that were working.

Under the bill, Under Section 3301 of Division C, Title III of the legislation, entitled “Border Emergency Authority” for a Title 42-like emergency removal authority, the Secretary of Homeland Security would only have the power to activate the authority on a discretionary basis when there are at least 4,000 illegal entries a day: “The Secretary may activate the border emergency authority if, during a period of 7 consecutive calendar days, there is an average of 4,000 or more aliens who are encountered each day.” That would have been 1.46 million illegal entries a year if the average held.

That’s what Trump used to build the wall and expedite removals using Title 42.

Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government. 

https://dailytorch.com/2024/10/kamala-harris-is-lying-only-the-president-and-not-congress-can-declare-a-border-national-emergency-re-establish-the-u-s-mexico-remain-in-mexico-agreement-and-title-42-removals/