Texas AG Backs Governor’s Policy of Sending Illegal Immigrants to Washington

Border Patrol agents pick up four illegal aliens from Mexico after local deputies intercept their smuggling vehicle, in Brackettville, Texas, on April 8, 2022. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has expressed support for state Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to transport illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C.

In an interview with Fox, Paxton acknowledged that a 2012 Supreme Court case blocks states from making their own immigration policies, saying the case could be a “problem for Texas.” However, the Supreme Court now has a 6–3 conservative majority and might take a fresh look at the issue, he suggested, while adding that the 2012 case was “wrongly decided.”

“So I'd encourage the governor to force people to be sent out of our state and make the federal government sue us [and] take that back to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Paxton said.

Abbott’s orders were in response to the Biden administration’s plans to end Title 42 expulsions, which were implemented during the Trump administration to prevent potentially COVID-19-infected illegal migrants from crossing into the United States from Canada and Mexico. Washington is planning to end Title 42 on May 23.

Many Democrats and civil rights organizations have praised Biden’s decision. But Republicans and some Democrats are warning that rescinding Title 42 would result in a massive spike in illegal immigration on top of the already high number of people the Border Patrol is encountering every day.

Title 42 expulsions involve the removal of illegal immigrants who have recently come from a country affected by an infectious disease. A bipartisan group of senators recently introduced a proposal aimed at delaying the end of Title 42 by at least 60 days after the end of the COVID-19 national emergency declaration.

Following the end of the emergency, the Department of Homeland Security would be tasked with submitting a plan to Congress within 30 days detailing how to minimize the impact of any increase in the number of illegal immigrants at the U.S.–Mexico border.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed Abbott’s policy of sending migrants to Washington as a “publicity stunt.” Abbott doesn’t have the “legal authority” to compel anyone to get on a bus, she said.

“His own office admits that a migrant would need to voluntarily be transported and that he can’t compel them to. Because again, enforcement of our country’s immigration laws lies with the federal government, not a state,” she said.

Abbott had announced his “aggressive” actions to secure the border in a statement on April 6. In addition to chartering migrants to Washington, the governor also directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas Military Department to set up additional boat blockages and establish razor-wire at high-traffic areas and low-water crossings to deter illegal migration.

DPS has also been instructed to carry out enhanced safety inspections of vehicles crossing into Texas because of the assumption that the expiry of Title 42 will spur a rise in “cartel-facilitated” smuggling.

“The new strategies announced today and next week will further strengthen our already robust response to the Biden border disaster, and we will use any and all lawful powers to curtail the flow of drugs, human traffickers, illegal immigrants, weapons, and other contraband into Texas,” the governor said.

Abbott pointed to projections by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which expect up to 18,000 migrant apprehensions per day once Title 42 ends, resulting in more than half a million illegal immigrant crossings per month.