Republicans call on Mayorkas to reinstate COVID-era border policy amid tuberculosis 'surge'

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, led some of his Republican colleagues in calling for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to reinstate a COVID-19 era border policy due to rising tuberculosis cases in the U.S. 

"Due to your negligence and refusal to enforce our current laws, tuberculosis (TB) is rapidly spreading through the millions of unscreened illegal immigrants released into the interior of the United States, putting American lives and health at severe risk," Lee wrote in a letter sent to Mayorkas Wednesday, which was also signed by senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan. 

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Lee and other Republicans called on Mayorkas to reinstate Title 42.  (Reuters)

The senators requested that he close the border, detain and deport "inadmissable" immigrants, reinstate the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy and bring back Title 42, which gave authority to turn away illegal immigrants due to the risk of communicable diseases. 

The Biden administration lifted the policy last year despite bipartisan pleading against him doing so. 

"The Biden-Harris administration’s destruction of America’s southern border has resulted in violent crime, human trafficking, drug smuggling and now a surge in a disease that was declining for nearly three decades before they took power. Secretary Mayorkas must answer for his part in this failure," Lee told Fox News Digital in a statement.

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Border Patrol picks up a group of asylum seekers from an aid camp at the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, Ariz., March 13, 2024. (Justin Hamel/Getty Images)

He noted that tuberculosis has risen steadily in recent years despite being on the decline for decades. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 9,615 cases of the disease in 2023, a 16% increase from 2022. 

"Despite this increasing human health risk, you have turned what was once border security into a rubber-stamp for any individual seeking access to the interior," the Republicans told Mayorkas. 

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"Rather than requiring immigrants to apply for status prior to arriving at the border and undergo health screenings, your policies encourage immigrants to unlawfully enter the interior with no meaningful processing, screening, or security analysis."

The senators pointed out that some of the most frequently encountered nationalities by Border Patrol are from countries that have higher rates of tuberculosis than the U.S. 

But the rise in cases is not confined to immigrants entering illegally, the letter said. Lee emphasized that the CDC reported increases in tuberculosis "among all age groups and among both U.S.-born and non-U.S.-born persons."

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Mayorkas was impeached earlier this year. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

"There can be no doubt that your administration’s failure to enforce the law is the cause for the dramatic and dangerous rise of TB in the U.S," the senators continued. 

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The lawmakers asked Mayorkas to respond to several questions, including whether the DHS recognizes a correlation between the influx of migrants from countries with higher rates of tuberculosis and the rising rate in the U.S.

The letter further asked him if the department was taking steps to mitigate the spread of the disease and if it considers the rise in tuberculosis a public health crisis. 

DHS did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.