Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told Newsmax on Friday people are mistaken about the controversial end of Title 42 being solely about immigration.
Mullin told "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE" the Trump-era policy instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed for the rapid deportation of illegal immigrants because of health concerns is a national security issue.
"I don't think a lot of your audience may even know what Title 42 actually is," Mullin said. "Title 42 does not stop immigration. It stops single males traveling by themselves and allows us to apprehend them and hold them for up to three days and do biometrics on them and find out who they actually are.
"That is why we've caught 82, I'm sorry, 83 known terrorists since Title 42 has been put in place. These aren't terrorists on the watch list. These are known terrorists.
"These aren't individuals wanting to come and look for a better a better life. They're wanting to tear down the life that America can give to those. They want to kill the American dream."
Mullins added that in the past 12 months, at least 160 people on the U.S. terrorist watch list have been apprehended at the border.
"That's why you're seeing a large surge of single males coming in because now they say, 'Hey, this is our opportunity,'" he said. "This is a national crisis. This has nothing to do with immigration. There is absolutely no reason why Joe Biden and his administration isn't keeping Title 42 in place because it has kept America safe."
On Thursday, the House passed the Secure the Border Act of 2023 without a single Democrat vote, which Mullins said is not surprising given the party's stance on having a wide-open border.
"They want to tie national security and what's happened on the southern border to immigration," he said. "It is not about immigration. It's about securing our southern border.
"If they were serious about immigration, Nancy Pelosi could have done something when she had the gavel [as speaker] with Joe Biden in office, and they didn't pass one single immigration bill, not a single one because they are wanting an open border," he said. "They want to have a complete open border ... and they won't admit it, yet they won't stop it either."
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