WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today joined Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and three other Senate GOP colleagues in introducing the ‘Securing the Homeland from International Entrants with Life-threatening Diseases Act,’ or SHIELD Act, to codify the previous administration’s public health order under Title 42 that required U.S. border officials to promptly remove illegal immigrants to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This bill would prevent President Biden from abruptly and dangerously abolishing this highly successful policy. U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-NM) introduced the companion bill in the House of Representatives.
“Reports that the Biden Administration will soon end the common sense, successful public-health policy of promptly removing illegal border crossers to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to Americans—a policy it has already watered down—is highly concerning. This is not only anti-border-security, but anti-science. It would invite nearly 1,000,000 border crossers expelled under this policy since March 2020 and many others to try again without threat of removal, despite that Mexico and Central America continue to see significant COVID spread,” Senator Hagerty said. “President Biden is elevating far-left politics over protecting Americans’ health and ending the border crisis, which is why I’m co-sponsoring the SHIELD Act to keep this policy in place.”
“Title 42 has been an integral and extremely successful measure to protect America’s borders and our people during the COVID-19 pandemic. If the Biden-Harris policy for open borders is intended to reverse the Trump Administration’s success in securing our border, encourage illegal immigration, and create an unprecedented crisis, it’s certainly working,” Senator Cruz said. “As we come out of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we need to continue securing our borders, not throwing open flood gates to people who could carry the deadly virus or its dangerous new variants.”
“Ending Title 42 is just another step in Joe Biden’s open border agenda. Title 42 is the last line of defense CBP has to address this historic border crisis,” Senator Blackburn said. “Biden has made it clear that he will do anything to allow illegal aliens to flood our country and appease the radical left, including putting the health and safety of Americans in jeopardy.”