By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Title 42 was put into place in March 2020 by the CDC in hopes of stopping the spread of COVID-19. It allowed immigration officials to oust migrants at the southern border back to their countries, without giving them an opportunity to reach asylum under United States law.
By or before next Monday, a U.S. District Judge is expected to rule whether Title 42 can be lifted or not.
More
than 234,000 migrants were encountered in April along the U.S. and Mexico
border. United States Senator Dr. Roger Marshall said that number will get
worse if Title 42 is removed.
"However bad the situation is now, it will double or triple on that day," said Marshall. "People are gathering at the border right now. On May 23, Title 42 could potentially end, and those people are going to rush the border."
Marshall and five Kansas Sheriffs will travel to the southern border this week
for tours and meetings with border patrol officials.
"I've done humanitarian work across the world as a physician," said Marshall. "What the border reminds me of is that humanitarian crisis I saw in foreign, third-world countries. These people are dehydrated, have pour nutrition and have contagious diseases. Certainly, it's a national security issue."
Marshall also stressed the concern of illegal drugs, especially
fentanyl-related substances, crossing the border. Fentanyl is becoming easier
to obtain in Kansas and many subjects don’t realize they took it, as other pills and
drugs get laced with the highly lethal substance.