Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is co-sponsoring a bill to extend Title 42 in a 180-degree reversal of his previous opinion.
Brown is supporting SB 1473, which will "authorize the immediate expulsion of inadmissible aliens attempting to enter the United States by fraud or without a necessary entry document, and for other purposes," which, in essence, is extending Title 42. This was a statute from 2020 that prohibited asylum-seekers from entering the country due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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The Ohio senator is not the only representative from his party listed as a co-sponsor. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jon Tester (D-MT), and former Democrat Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) are also in support of the bill but did not sign the letter in 2020 that Brown did calling for the reversal of Title 42.
The letter, signed by 26 other Democratic senators, referred to Title 42 as the "CDC asylum ban," as it was instituted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was addressed to then-President Donald Trump, Attorney General Bill Bar, ICE Director Matthew Albence, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"The CDC order appears designed to further an ongoing agenda to exclude asylum seekers, in violation of Congress’ plain word and intent," the letter read. "Since March 2020 [and through June 2020], 20,000 people, including more than 900 children, have been expelled under the CDC order. Only two people have been permitted to stay in the U.S. to pursue asylum claims."
Brown did not respond to the Washington Examiner's request for comment.
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Title 42 ended on May 11, with 1,500 troops deployed across the U.S.-Mexico border to receive an expected influx.
A senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official at the agency’s Washington headquarters told the Washington Examiner in a phone call Friday that the number of illegal immigrants apprehended nationwide remained very high, with 9,000 on Thursday alone.