Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday "it's absolute lunacy" that President Joe Biden is going to allow Title 42, a Trump-era policy to remove illegal immigrants from the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic, to expire May 11, the same day the national COVID-19 public health emergency ends.
In a video posted on his Truth Social account, Trump said the expiration of Title 42 will lead to "complete and total mayhem and utter lawlessness." He said tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are massing on Mexico's side of the border, waiting to flood into the U.S. when the policy expires.
"They're getting ready to storm across the moment Title 42, which is so important, is officially gone," Trump said. "Can you believe they're getting rid of it? And when that happens, countless more will charge in from all over the world.
"It's absolute lunacy. It will be a mass resettlement of millions and millions of illegal aliens into your communities; and the invasion will be aided, abetted and facilitated by the Biden administration. Every step of the way, every path they take will be made easier by Biden."
Trump is the favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and get a rematch against Biden, who defeated him in a contested 2020 election. The fight against illegal immigration was one of the hallmarks of Trump's victorious 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton.
Trump said Congress needs to defund Biden's immigration policy of catch and release, which allows a migrant to wait in the U.S. until their immigration trial takes place. The GOP-led House is working on a bill to secure the border, but it likely doesn't stand a chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate; and even if it gets to Biden's desk, he likely would veto it.
"We should ban Joe Biden and the communists in the administration from using a single federal taxpayer dollar to set loose illegal aliens into the United States," Trump said. "Now is the time we have to fight to make sure our country survives because our country cannot take two more years of this invasion.
"When I take the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2025, we will immediately begin the process of securing the border and removing the illegal aliens Joe Biden has unlawfully allowed to break into our country."