WATCH: Jen Psaki asked if she's 'concerned' that Joe Manchin wants Title 42 to stay in place

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was grilled on the Biden administration's desire to end Title 42 after US officials were temporarily blocked from lifting it this week.

Psaki was asked at Monday's press briefing if it's a concern that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is arguing that Title 42, which allows the expedited expulsion of migrants, should not be done away with until there is an immigration policy in place.

"Well, that's just not how it works," Psaki responded to the question asked by a reporter in the White House briefing room. "Obviously, [with] Title 42, the authority was given to the CDC by Congress. They made a decision."

"If Congress wants to decide, make any decisions about the next steps for Title 42, they can work together on that. But that is an authority or a decision that would have to lay in the body that [Manchin] works in," Psaki continued.

In an April 1 press release, Manchin urged for Title 42 to remain until the US has "major immigration reforms." The senior West Virginia senator called the Biden administration's agenda intending to end Title 42 "a frightening decision."

"Title 42 has been an essential tool in combatting the spread of COVID-19 and controlling the influx of migrants at our southern border," Manchin wrote. "We are already facing an unprecedented increase in migrants this year, and that will only get worse if the Administration ends the Title 42 policy. We are nowhere near prepared to deal with that influx. Until we have comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that commits to securing our borders and providing a pathway to citizenship for qualified immigrants, Title 42 must stay in place."

Manchin also called on CDC director Rochelle Walensky to extend Title 42 due to "rising COVID-19 cases across the globe and surging migrant encounters."

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt's office obtained a temporary restraining order Monday that blocks the Biden administration from lifting the public health order, which has supercharged the removal of immigrants since March 2020.

In a lawsuit first filed by the states of Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona, the court order keeps Title 42 in place for now. "This is a huge victory for border security, but the fight continues on," Schmitt said in Monday's social media announcement.

"It's just really important for our national security, for our border security. It's one of the few things the federal government is actually supposed to do — securing the border — and Joe Biden is not interested in that, so under our system of federalism, the states are going to push back," Schmitt told Fox News Digital.

The suit filed in the US District Court in Louisiana argues that ending Title 42 "was done unlawfully and will have a devastating impact on states." According to the complaint, the suit challenges "an imminent, man-made, self-inflicted calamity: the abrupt elimination of the only safety valve preventing this administration’s disastrous border policies from devolving into an unmitigated catastrophe."

At the beginning of April, the Biden administration announced in a CDC statement that it will be terminating the Title 42 policy at the end of May.

"After considering current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19 (such as highly effective vaccines and therapeutics), the CDC Director has determined that an Order suspending the right to introduce migrants into the United States is no longer necessary," the CDC said.

In consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, the termination would've gone into effect May 23 "to enable DHS time to implement appropriate COVID-19 mitigation protocols, such as scaling up a program to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to migrants and prepare for resumption of regular migration under Title 8," according to the official CDC press release issued on April 1.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), another moderate Democrat who has gone against the progressive ranks, argued that the extension of the COVID-19 public health emergency "proves the need" for the Biden administration to delay lifting Title 42.

House Republicans have warned that "complete chaos" at the US border could ensure with Title 42's cancellation. "Ending Title 42 would be nothing short of disastrous and further fuel the influx of migrants flooding our border; we will see the border crisis reach an irreversible climax," House GOP members wrote in a June 2021 letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Members of the Texas National Guard were seen running drills with riot gear in preparation for an expected illegal "mass migration" surge at the end of May.

Authorities had anticipated a significant jump in illegal United States - Mexico border crossings due to the scheduled lifting of Title 42. "DHS projects up to 18,000 illegal crossings per *day* when that time comes. That's more than double the current volume," Fox News reporter Bill Melugin described the projection.