Former Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan told Newsmax Tuesday that despite Title 42, which is expected to end today, the situation at the southern border is already the "worst self-inflicted security crisis of our lifetime."
"With or without Title 42, let's make no mistake, we're already in the midst of the worst self-inflicted border security crisis in our lifetime," Morgan said during "Wake Up America" Tuesday. "In less than 24 months, we've seen well over 5 million total [illegal migrant] encounters."
President Joe Biden's administration is preparing to end the Title 42 restrictions, which allowed the government to return illegal migrants to their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, today after being delayed by the Supreme Court.
Morgan said that while there may be more illegal migrants coming into the country once the policy is stopped, the current border situation is still bad with tens of thousands crossing monthly.
Title 42 was started in 2020 by former President Donald Trump at the outset of the pandemic, and later reversed when Biden took office in 2021.
"Within the first 60 days of this fiscal year, we've already had over half a million total encounters, and over 160,000 known got-aways," Morgan said. "That's all with Title 42 in place. So, once Title 42 goes away, which I anticipate it probably will, it's not going to create a crisis, were already there. It's just going to make it worse."
Morgan said he isn't sure if the Supreme Court will allow Title 42 to end or extend it once again to give the administration time to come up with a plan, which they have not done so far.
"It's going to be hard [to extend it] because this administration has basically said, No. We agree Title 42 should go away. The president said, 'There's no pandemic,' " Morgan said. "They've been fighting to get rid of Title 42 for the past 24 months. That's exactly what they're doing now. They're not arguing to keep Title 42 going. They just asked for a little bit more time to implement their plan, which there is no plan. They are going to throw more money at it to cover up the crisis."
Morgan said that Republicans failed to "stop the bleeding" at the border by backing the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that recently passed in both the Senate and House, which does not allow any money going to the border to be used for security, while it does include funds to protect and secure borders of other foreign countries.
"Republicans had a chance to stop the bleeding," Morgan said. "They had a chance to force this administration to reverse its open border policies, and they failed in what they have done by passing this massive bill."
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