The situation may be hundreds of miles away, but it was the topic of discussion Friday when U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville met with local and state leaders in Montgomery.
As they spoke, the expiration of Title 42 continued to take effect with an impact on the southern border, the state, and communities across the country. The restrictions lapsed at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
Tuberville (R-Auburn) and Alabama Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter addressed the local ramifications of illegal immigration and acknowledged the need for a collaborative approach.
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“Now, we all love people. But we can’t handle this many people at one time and Title 42 is making it doubly worse,” Tuberville said. “We’re having to educate them, hospitalize them. It’s just it’s a crime what’s happening and it’s the Biden administration’s fault.”
Ledbetter, who visited the border with state and legislative officials, agreed.
“I think none of us are against people coming in, if they do it the right way and get naturalization papers and go through the process,” Ledbetter said. “But that’s clearly not happening. The Biden administration has pretty much opened the floodgates.
“I don’t know if there’s a certain point where our infrastructure can’t handle it anymore.”
In March, Tuberville introduced the Border Safety and Security Act, aiming to combat the border crisis by holding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security accountable and granting increased authority to state attorneys general.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has also been a vocal opponent of the administration’s immigration posture.
This President should have listened to Alabama and other states when we fought to preserve Title 42 and the Remain-in-Mexico policy. This is a crisis of his own making. Elections have (sometimes devastating) consequences. https://t.co/lhbVugUZ0T
— Attorney General Steve Marshall (@AGSteveMarshall) May 12, 2023
With the lapse of Title 42, the situation at the border, and in Alabama, will get worse before things get better, the senator and speaker agreed.
“The problem is we got people in Washington, D.C., that could care less about the American citizens, they care more about people out of our country,” Tuberville said. “And that’s the reason we got to make a change and in a couple of years, if we don’t, we’re gonna be in huge trouble.”
Grayson Everett is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270 for coverage of the 2023 legislative session.
