Under mounting pressure from the Hill, the White House is preparing a more aggressive defense around its plan for lifting the Trump-era deportation policy, Title 42, according to five people familiar with the plans.
People familiar with the White House’s thinking said lawmakers are expecting to get more details and talking points about the administration’s strategy for handling a likely migrant surge at the border, possibly as early as Monday. White House Legislative Affairs officials invited Senate chiefs of staff and staff directors to a Title 42 briefing call on Tuesday and there are ongoing discussions with aides and lawmakers too.
The heightened defense and soon-to-be-provided details, which are expected to be given by the White House and Department of Homeland Security, are the latest signs that the administration is not backing off of its plan to lift Title 42.
Despite promising during his campaign to revoke the policy, Biden has kept it in place since taking office. Declaring that the Covid pandemic no longer necessitated its implementation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced earlier this month that it would stop the policy, which has been used to expel more than one million migrants encountered at the border since it was put in place in March of 2020.
“We’re continuing to prepare for a May 23 implementation,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday. “There will be a range of conversations about this over the coming days.”
CNN first reported that the administration planned to release more details on its plan for lifting Title 42.
Since announcing their plans to end the order, vulnerable Senate and House Democrats have urged the Biden administration to delay its decision to end the policy on May 23.
But in an interview with POLITICO last week, a White House official defended the decision, saying it was a matter of public health, not politics, and that Title 42 “is not a policy to applaud or defend or anything.” A former Biden administration official and immigrant advocates also said the White House had long been working on a plan to better manage influxes of migrants and asylum seekers at the border. But they urged the White House to provide more transparency and better communicate with Democratic lawmakers.
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are expected to meet with Biden on Monday to discuss Title 42 and immigration. Separately on Monday, White House officials met with senior Democratic aides and gave no indication that a delay was imminent in a meeting, according to multiple people in the room.
In that meeting, White House legislative liaison Louisa Terrell said that congressional offices could expect much more clarity from the administration this week, including possible briefings with members themselves.
Terrell also told aides that lifting the Trump-era policy was the only way that the Biden administration could begin to address the nation’s broken immigration system — changes that she said Republicans were obstructing.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the White House did not provide comment.
Marianne LeVine and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
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