Katie Pavlich on Title 42 remaining in place: It's still going to be a catastrophe at the border
'The Five' panelists discuss the Supreme Court's ruling on Title 42 after thousands of migrants flood border during the holiday weekend.
Some co-hosts of "The Five" on Tuesday called out the hypocrisy of those who ripped Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for bussing migrants who were dropped off in the cold outside Vice President Kamala Harris' official residence on Christmas Eve.
The migrants were left in front of the U.S. Naval Observatory and reportedly soon met by representatives from NGOs (non-governmental organizations), unlike the migrants who are trafficked across desolate sections of the Mexican border and forced to spend the night in the equally chilly desert, the hosts noted.
"I look at this and I mean the fact that the White House and Democrats are chastising Republicans or Greg Abbott for dropping migrants off outside of Kamala Harris's house [because] it's cold there. But [it] is cold in El Paso, it's cold in the desert right now. Kids are sleeping in the desert," said co-host Sean Duffy, a former Wisconsin congressman.
Duffy added that the current federal border policy has been empowering Mexican cartels in their pursuit of child trafficking and slave labor, saying Abbott is simply trying to draw attention to that and the overall crisis.
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A bus carrying 36 migrants arrived Oct. 13, 2022, near Vice President Kamala Harris' residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. (Fox News Channel)
"The fact that [critics are] going to take the high ground and say, ‘Shame on you, Greg Abbott, for dropping people off on Kamala Harris’ doorstep to draw attention to the crisis at the border,' because the media won't cover it. So what else do you do but do a stunt like this?" he asked.
Co-host Katie Pavlich pointed out that the NGOs that met the migrants near Harris' residence are essentially "helping the cartels finish the journey for people they've been trafficking who have paid," adding that the deluge of migrants will continue until substantive changes are made to border policy and enforcement at the federal level.
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Migrants stand across the Rio Grande at El Paso, Texas. (Border Patrol)
She echoed a Supreme Court dissent by the bench's three liberal justices, plus conservative justice Neil Gorsuch, following the decision to keep Title 42 intact for the time being, saying that the pandemic-related policy is indeed "inappropriate" as a long-term border security solution.
"I guess it's a good thing it's staying because the numbers would be absolutely out of control," Pavlich said. "But it's an inappropriate policy. And the federal government should be focused on sovereignty and national security, not using an outdated pandemic policy to solve a problem that the president doesn't want to work on."
On Tuesday, the high court temporarily halted the termination of Title 42, which had been ordered sunsetted on Dec. 21 by a Clinton-appointed federal judge earlier this year.
The policy, which allows for the prompt removal from the U.S. of some migrants, will remain in place until the court hears a challenge led by Republican state attorneys general in February.
Writing for the dissent, Gorsuch – a Trump appointee – said the border crisis is "not a COVID crisis" and that the judiciary is a "court of law, not policymakers of last resort."
Fox News' Paul Best contributed to this report.