After criticizing the Biden administration’s approach to the border crisis, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) has proposed a three-point plan to deal with the issue.
During an interview on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America” on Wednesday, the Republican governor argued that every step of the way, every signal from the Biden administration “has been wrong, it has been misguided and confusing.”
Hutchinson pointed out the hypocrisy in the fact that the Biden administration “continues the public health emergency when it comes to Medicaid, but wants to end it when it comes to border security.”
The Arkansas governor noted that President Joe Biden “asks the Supreme Court to end Title 42… but the fact is that it is inconsistent with the position the administration has taken on extending the public health emergency when it comes to Medicaid and prohibiting the states from moving people off of Medicaid if they don’t meet the income requirements anymore.”
Hutchinson then laid out his three-pronged plan to deal with the border crisis, calling the illegal immigration issue a “human tragedy.”
The first step, according to the governor, must be “to extend Title 42 through April, which is at least as long as when Medicaid is going to continue on their public health emergency.”
Title 42 is currently being argued in the courts, as Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday issued an administrative stay on a lower court’s ruling that ordered the policy to be lifted by December 21. Several Republican-led states have filed a petition arguing for the continuation of the policy, claiming that to end Title 42 would cause the states “irreparable harm” by allowing a flood of illegal immigration.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court issues a stay on the DC District Court's order to end Title 42. pic.twitter.com/OWlAGiqPAd
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) December 19, 2022
The extension of the Trump-era policy — which allows for the quick deportation of illegal aliens at the southern border — will provide the Biden administration with more time to implement Hutchinson’s next step, pushing border security legislation through Congress.
According to the Republican governor, the third step in his plan is that the United States has “to engage Mexico to a greater extent. We have to be able to go after the cartel and we need their help to do it.”
Hutchinson is on his way out of office in just a few weeks, as incoming Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) — who previously served as White House press secretary to former President Donald Trump — won the Arkansas gubernatorial election in November. Hutchinson, who has been in office since 2015, was not able to run for reelection due to term limits.
