Seventeen Republican governors are urging President Joe Biden to lift the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for international travelers flying into the country, reports The Daily Caller Foundation.

"As COVID-19 vaccination rates remain high and hospitalization levels remain manageable, continuing your international travel vaccine mandate becomes indefensible," the governors wrote to Biden. "The rest of the world is moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic and returning to normal. It is time for your Administration to do the same."

The governors say 72 countries don't have COVID-19 vaccine and testing requirements for travelers, including Mexico, and that maintaining a mandate for legal travelers "is particularly contradictory given your recent push to revoke the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Title 42 Order, which allows DHS to expel migrants from the country for public health reasons.

"Why are you insisting on stringent vaccine requirements for legal temporary travelers but not for illegal immigrants who are attempting to stay in our country permanently?" they added.

Forty-nine countries have vaccine mandates in place, according to the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker.

The letter was signed by Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Kay Ivey of Alabama, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Bill Lee of Tennessee, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, and others.

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