To limit fentanyl supply, Tim Scott wants Title 42-like restrictions. Experts say they won’t help

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott has floated a plan he says will reduce the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.: reinstating the COVID-19 era public health policy known as Title 42.

Title 42, enacted by the Trump administration in March 2020 and lifted May 11, was used to curb the spread of COVID-19. It gave border officials the power to quickly expel people arriving at the southern border, essentially blocking their ability to apply for asylum. 

"The current healthcare emergency we all know ain’t COVID, but it is fentanyl," Scott, of South Carolina, said Aug. 15 at the Iowa State Fair during a "fair-side chat" with Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds.  "We can reinstate something like Title 42 to stem the tide of 6 million illegal immigrants crossing our border. We can do that on Day 1 of my administration."

In his immigration plan released Aug. 6, Scott said that in his first 100 days as president, he would "make Congress pass the bill" he wrote codifying asylum restrictions similar to those in Title 42. The bill said that "in response to the fentanyl public health crisis," it would suspend people who are not legally allowed to enter the U.S. from entering the country via Mexico or Canada. Instead, they would be immediately expelled. Under immigration law, people must physically be in the U.S. to seek asylum, whether they entered legally or not. Scott introduced the bill, S. 1532, in May, but no actions have been taken since.