Senator Scott Introduces Legislation to Extend Powers of Title 42 to Combat Fentanyl Crisis

WASHINGTON – As the Biden administration terminates Title 42’s important border security measures tomorrow, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), along with Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), introduced the Alan T. Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act to utilize powers similar to those under Title 42 so that the Department of Homeland Security continues to expedite the processing and removal of migrants illegally entering the country in response to the fentanyl-related public health emergency. Due to the expiration of Title 42 on May 11, the Biden administration estimates that illegal border crossings into the U.S. from Mexico will increase to roughly 13,000 per day.

“President Biden is fueling the raging fentanyl epidemic, a true national public health emergency warranting immediate action,” said Senator Scott. “As a new wave of the Biden border crisis is boiling over with the end of Title 42, this administration has shown little interest in actually solving it. It’s time for us to take bold and decisive action. My legislation does this by using powers similar to those under Title 42 and applying them in response to the new public health emergency – the fentanyl epidemic.”

BACKGROUND

The Alan T. Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act is named after the son of Dr. Alan Shao, the former Dean of the School of Business at the College of Charleston. Alan T. Shao II passed away at the age of 27 due to a fentanyl overdose. 

                                                                                                        To learn more about Alan T. Shao II click here. 

Senator Scott’s legislation utilizes powers similar to those under Title 42, which allows the Department of Homeland Security to expedite the processing and removal of migrants illegally entering the country, and applies them in response to the fentanyl-related public health emergency.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, more than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021 – most of which were caused by synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.  Most of the fentanyl that is killing Americans today is trafficked across our southern border by Mexican drug cartels.

In addition to the Alan T. Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act, last month, Senator Scott introduced the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, a sanctions and anti-money laundering bill aimed at combatting the country’s fentanyl crisis by targeting the illicit fentanyl supply chain, from the chemical suppliers in China to the cartels that traffic the drugs in from Mexico.  

Furthermore, he introduced the Securing Our Border Act, which redirects $15 billion of funding passed by Democrats to hire 87,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents and utilizes it to bolster security measures along our southern border.

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