Midlothian state representative introduces bill to retain Section 42 until federal COVID-19 mandates are lifted.

DALLAS – A North Texas legislator has introduced legislation that will retain Texas Section 42, a federal public health order that allows for the rapid removal of migrants to stop the spread of COVID-19 until all federal mandates and other travel warnings are lifted.

The border is bursting at the seams, with more than 200,000 illegal crossings in December destroying cities like El Paso.

State Representative Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) has filed a bill that would use state health authorities to immediately remove illegal immigrants back to their countries of origin.

“I believe President Biden intends to destroy this country with the Biden Border Crisis,” he said. “So I think it’s important that Texas step forward, save Texas, save America, using all the tools available to us, including our health authorities.”

The Midlothy Republican served as Chief of Staff for Health and Human Services during the Trump administration and helped develop Section 42.

Passed during the coronavirus pandemic, Section 42 keeps some migrants out without asylum consideration.

Harrison’s law is called Texas Title 42. And if passed, it will remain in effect as long as the federal public health emergency for COVID-19 is in place, as well as any federal government mandates for vaccines and travel warnings to areas where illegal immigrants come from.

“That would allow us to close the border,” Harrison said. “That would stop the national security and humanitarian crisis that Joe Biden has created on the southern border.”

“At a high level, this proposed bill is really similar to Section 42. It sort of ties public health and immigration policy together,” said constitutional lawyer David Cole. “The problem is, at the federal level, you can do that because the federal government has power over immigration in our country. you can’t go that extra step and tie it to immigration policy.”

“This is what we can do. It’s legal,” Harrison said. “And I think here in Texas we need to use our public health authorities to close the border and start deporting illegal immigrants immediately the minute they cross.”

If the measure is passed, there will likely be another lawsuit in the ongoing battle over what to do at the border.