GOP lawmakers demand disclosure of criteria for exemptions allowing aliens to enter the U.S.

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, John Katko of New York and James Comer of Kentucky are asking Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to disclose the criteria that the Biden administration is utilizing to make exceptions to a prohibition regarding aliens entering the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawmakers wrote that Title 42 public health authority permits an administration to block the entry of people into the country for the sake of public health. They said that the Trump administration utilized Title 42 to bar aliens amid the coronavirus pandemic and the Biden administration has granted exemptions.

"On February 17, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it would exempt Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) from the Title 42 prohibition on entry," the lawmakers wrote. "That exception, in addition to the exemptions already in place for certain family units, allowed nearly 64,000 illegal aliens encountered along the southwest border in April 2021 to enter the U.S. instead of being expelled from the country. According to Customs and Border Protection data, over 151,000 illegal aliens encountered on the southwest border have been exempted from Title 42 expulsion since the beginning of the Biden Administration," they noted.

The GOP lawmakers are also asking Mayorkas to identify all non-governmental organizations that the government is coordinating with on the issue of granting expulsion exceptions.

"As the Ranking Members of the House committees of relevant jurisdiction, we are entitled to know what criteria you believe to warrant a humanitarian exception from Title 42 expulsion protocol as well as the NGOs with which you are working to determine eligibility of those seeking the exception," they wrote in the letter.