ORDER, WALL HELP BEEF UP OUR BORDER

A recent Gallup poll found six in 10 Americans are concerned about illegal immigration and the loss of control at our U.S. borders. Under the Biden administration, deportations have plummeted by at least 68 percent. In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, Border Patrol has had 1.2 million encounters with migrants. Polling last month by the Trafalgar Group found 65 percent of those who identified as Hispanic want a temporary border closure with Mexico until the drug smuggling and illegal crossing crisis are under control.

Correctly, the 1944 public health order Title 42, which was invoked during the COVID-19 pandemic, will continue. A major reason for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to maintain Title 42 was Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stating in September that 20 percent of migrants entering the United States have an illness; many are in need of medical attention. Now, a growing number of congressional Democrats are opposed to ending Title 42.

In March, Border Patrol Chief Raul L. Ortiz said he’s prepared to apprehend as many as 8,000 people who may arrive at the U.s.-mexico border each day to apply for asylum if Title 42 were to end. Officials have said they were preparing for as many as 18,000 migrants a day. Since March 2020, when use of Title 42 commenced, almost 2 million people have been denied entry. Since President Joe Biden took office, an estimated 750,000 immigrants have been released after apprehension, increasing immigration court cases to 1.7 million. Asylum case approval rates have risen from 26 percent in 2020 to 37 percent in 2021.

From my standpoint, many asylum reforms are needed due to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland making a serious error when erasing one of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ effective asylum rules. Garland is allowing applicants to claim fear of domestic or gang violence, some of the same type of violence that plagues America’s crime-ridden cities. Recent homicide rates per 100,000 people were 17.6 in El Salvador, 16.6 in Guatemala and 38.6 in Honduras. Some asylum seekers could likely move to U.S. cities with higher crime rates than from where they come. Some U.S. cities with high homicide rates per 100,000 are St. Louis, 64.55; Baltimore, 58.3; Detroit, 41.5; New Orleans, 30.7; and Oakland, 18.

Legitimately suffering persecution is the main reasoning to qualify for asylum, but Biden’s administration is incorrectly allowing increased applications based on crime. Biden also ended agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Citizens from these three countries represented about 41 percent of all border appre