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GOP worried Biden may utilize Amtrak to ship illegal aliens around the US

August 20, 2022 | | Print Article

Congressional Republicans are concerned that if and when President Joe Biden revokes the successful Trump-era Title 42 policy, his administration may seek to use the taxpayer-funded Amtrak train service to funnel even more illegal aliens into communities throughout the nation.

A coalition of 19 congressional Republicans expressed this fear in a letter submitted this past week to Amtrak president and chief executive officer Stephen Gardner.

“We are concerned about the impact that a significantly greater border surge could cause to your services and the potential use of Amtrak in the Administration’s response to its self-created border crisis,” the Republicans wrote.

“If Title 42 ends, causing an overwhelming migrant surge at the border, we are deeply concerned that Amtrak’s resources – especially those supporting the Sunset Limited route – will be used to transport these undocumented persons. Such a situation would cause disruptions for Amtrak customers as well as interrupt freight traffic that could further exacerbate the supply chain crisis.”

The use of Amtrak to transport illegal aliens “would also constitute an unconscionable use of significant amounts of taxpayer funds and resources to aid in the vast movement of illegal migrants into American communities,” the Republicans warned.

At the moment, the administration is primarily relying on buses and airplanes to move illegal aliens around the country.

In case Title 42 is revoked, however, the border will likely be flooded with hundreds of thousands of additional illegal aliens, prompting the need for more transportation options.

Of course, this could be avoided if the administration would simply not revoke Title 42. But as it stands, the Biden administration has demonstrated an unwillingness to stop illegal migration. If anything, the administration appears to be pro-illegal migration.

Earlier this month, for example, the administration ended the “Remain in Mexico” policy, another successful Trump-era policy that had been instrumental in slowing down illegal migration.

“U.S. border officials on Monday suspended Trump-era rules that required certain migrants to wait for their asylum hearings in Mexico. The suspension followed a federal court order that put an end to a lengthy legal back-and-forth over President Biden’s efforts to end the policy,” CBS News reported on Monday, Aug. 8th.

“In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it had stopped placing migrants in the Migrant Protection Protocols, a policy colloquially known as ‘Remain-in-Mexico.’ It also said it would process migrants already enrolled in the program and allow them to continue their asylum cases inside the U.S.”

This itself triggered an increase in border crossings:

If Title 42 were revoked, God knows how bad the situation would become.

“Terminating Title 42, a tool CBP uses to deport illegal immigrants migrating from a region where public health efforts continue to struggle, will force CBP agents to accept every single immigrant who crosses our border, regardless of their health status,” according to Texas congressional candidate Wesley Hunt.

“The repeal of Title 42 will be catastrophic. It will flood an already broken immigration system, it will increase fentanyl deaths across our country, and human trafficking will surge. Perhaps worse of all, Mexican drug cartels will be emboldened to take over control of the U.S.- Mexico border, which is a national security threat to our country,” Hunt added.

The only reason it hasn’t been revoked yet is that the courts granted a temporary injunction to GOP state attorneys earlier this summer.

Republicans are nevertheless rightly concerned that Title 42 may wind up going the route of the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which the courts ultimately allowed the administration to revoke in a ruling issued in late June.

Some Republicans, namely governors like Texas’ Greg Abbott, have been trying to deliver a wake-up call to their Democrat colleagues by busing illegals to THEIR communities in Washington, D.C., New York City, etc.

So far the clever tactic hasn’t worked. Instead of gleaning the right lesson from this, which is that the Biden administration needs to secure the border and stop the flow of illegals, Democrats have lashed out at Republicans for daring to give them a taste of their own medicine.

Vivek Saxena
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