Texas AG Paxton Joins Opposition to Biden's Border Bill

AUSTIN — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alongside a coalition of 14 other attorneys general, has penned a letter to the leadership of the United States Senate, strongly opposing measures within the "border bill" proposed in the chamber following negotiations with the White House.

The missive underscores the bill's shortcomings in addressing issues contributing to elevated levels of border encounters, stating: "We implore our lawmakers to return to the basics: eliminate incentives for aliens to enter the country, abolish policies, definitions, and loopholes facilitating their illegitimate entry and residence, and bolster national deportation efforts credibly."

Moreover, the letter disapproves of employing border security funding as leverage to secure foreign aid and opposes a provision in the bill conferring sole jurisdiction to the District Court for the District of Columbia to adjudicate legal and constitutional challenges to its provisions. This move, the letter contends, would significantly bias any legal challenges brought by the States against the federal government.

In addition, the letter urges Congress to authorize the States to enforce existing federal immigration laws, stating: "This would resolve any potential pre-emption arguments under the Supreme Court’s Arizona v. United States decision by legislatively overriding the issue." The letter notes the Biden Administration's repeated, albeit erroneous, assertion that Texas and other States lack the legal authority to enforce federal immigration law and continue to rely on the SCOTUS decision to impede Texas's lawful border security actions.

Attorney General Paxton, in the letter, voices his concerns, stating: "This bill prioritizes the interests of foreign nationals, corporate lobbies seeking cheap labor, non-governmental organizations paid to implement the Biden Administration’s policies, and the entire open-borders industrial complex over the interests of our taxpaying American citizens." He asserts that the bill codifies numerous policy objectives long sought by the Biden Administration and the open-borders lobby, empowering officials who have, in his view, disregarded the people of the country, rather than addressing their failures to enforce the law.