Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) will pitch legislation Tuesday that would turn over unused border wall construction materials to states willing to shore up segments of the frontier barrier ahead of Title 42’s expiration later this week.
The BUILD It Act would force the Biden administration to hand over the wasted materials to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
The unused materials are costing the federal government $130,000 per day and nearly $50 million per year to maintain, according to a cost estimate the Army Corps of Engineers provided to Ernst and other Senate Republicans.
The materials themselves are estimated to cost roughly $250 million.
The legislation comes as the Department of Homeland Security is bracing for a surge of migrants crossing the southern border when the public health protocol expires Thursday.
“With Title 42 ending this week, Biden’s border failure will go from crisis to catastrophe,” Ernst, 52, told The Post.
“While Biden left border materials to rack up dust and dollars, I’m taking action with a simple solution to end the taxpayer-funded waste and stop the unprecedented flow of illegal migrants. It’s time to finish the job and build the wall!”
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced a bill Monday to relinquish unused construction materials for the border wall to states. Getty Images
“With Title 42 ending this week, Biden’s border failure will go from crisis to catastrophe,” Ernst told The Post. AFP via Getty ImagesLast week, President Biden authorized the deployment of 1,500 active-duty US soldiers to the border. The troops will focus on logistical duties, but will also be armed if needed for self-defense.
Typically, the US has deployed National Guard members for border-related issues.
What is Title 42 and what does its end mean for US border immigration?
What is Title 42?
Title 42 is a federal health measure enforced by the US Border Patrol. It allows the agency to kick certain migrants out of the US and return them to Mexico. This includes asylum seekers, who under international law have the legal right to make an asylum claim in America.
Currently, migrants who cross the border illegally and who are from Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua or Venezuela are subject to Title 42 and could be sent to Mexico.
How did Title 42 start?
President Donald Trump invoked the law in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue the policy. The Trump administration made the case that keeping migrants out of the country would slow down the spread of infections and maintain the safety of federal agents encountering migrants.
What has happened with Title 42 under Biden?
When President Biden took over, he continued to enforce Title 42 with one important change from his predecessor. Biden said Border Patrol agents were only allowed to expel migrants from certain countries under his direction. That meant migrants seeking asylum from countries like Cuba and Venezuela could still seek asylum if they arrived at the border and stay in the US while their cases were decided in court — unless they had a criminal record.
What is happening with Title 42 now?
Title 42 is supposed to be a health policy, not an immigration law. It will end at 11:59 p.m. May 11, when the Biden administration ends all COVID-19-related policies.
Why is it controversial?
Many have called for the policy’s end, saying it’s illegal and that international law guarantees people the right to seek asylum.
Others, like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, warn that the southern border could see up to 13,000 migrants per day crossing with the intention to stay in the country when the measure ends.
What would the end of Title 42 mean for immigration into the US?
It’s unclear exactly how many people have been expelled under Title 42 because there have been scores of people who have attempted to enter the country numerous times and been rejected again and again, but the US Border Patrol said it made an all-time high of more than 2.3 million arrests at the border in the last fiscal year. Forty percent of people who were expelled from the country were ejected under the rules of Title 42.
US Customs and Border Protection recorded around 1.7 million migrant encounters on the southern border in fiscal year 2021 and 2.4 million in 2022.
More than 1.2 million migrant encounters have occurred in the first six months of fiscal year 2023, according to the agency.
US Customs and Border Protection recorded around 1.7 million and 2.4 million migrant encounters on the southern border in fiscal years 2021 and 2022, respectively. Getty Images
More than 1.2 million migrant encounters have occurred in the first six months of fiscal year 2023, according to CBP. AFP via Getty Images
Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee learned of the exorbitant border costs in March. AFP via Getty ImagesRepublicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee learned of the exorbitant border costs in March, when ranking member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said in a letter to the Pentagon that members were “disturbed to learn the Department of Defense is paying private landowners to store border wall materials procured under the Trump Administration instead of fortifying the southern border with those materials.”
Reports surfaced in October 2021 that more than $100 million worth of taxpayer-funded border materials were wasting away in Texas after Biden halted wall construction when he took office.
The Biden administration last July quietly approved a separate border segment being constructed between Southern California and Mexico. Getty ImagesAt around the same time, some Border Patrol agents were working to plug holes in the unfinished wall segments with stray parts and old tires left behind by federal contractors.
The Biden administration last July quietly approved construction of a separate border segment between Southern California and Mexico, replacing a “deteriorated barrier” near San Diego.
