Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday that the immigration policies of the Biden administration and the Department of Justice are “aiding and abetting” cartels in the record surge of illegal entries at the southern border.
The Biden administration says it will sue Texas if the state enforces a new immigration law that would allow state officials to arrest and detain those who enter the country illegally but release those who agree to return to Mexico and not proceed with criminal charges.
“They’re helping aid and abet the cartels, and then Texas says, ‘We’ve had enough, we’re gonna do something about it,’ and then they threaten us from enforcing our own laws,” Mr. Paxton said on “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.”
The remarks from Mr. Paxton, a Republican, come amid a record of more than 268,000 illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border in December.
Senators and administration officials are in bipartisan talks over southern border policies as part of a national security package that includes funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, in addition to humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“It seems pretty crazy, and hard to believe, that we have a government that is working against its own citizens and helping the cartels move as many people across the border as possible,” Mr. Paxton said.
However Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, expressed optimism about the talks Sunday, saying “expedited removal [of migrants] is on the table” in the ongoing negotiations.
“Title 42 authority needs to be applied here on the concept that America is full,” Mr. Graham said on the CBS News program “Face the Nation.” “If you have to wait four years for an asylum hearing, let’s slow down the asylum system. One-point-seven million people are ready to be deported. Let’s deport them before we let new people in.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic mayors of Chicago and Denver had their own ideas about who is to blame for the border crisis, accusing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of sowing “chaos” by busing and flying migrants who illegally crossed the southern border to theirs and other cities.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston conceded there was an immigration crisis with a record influx of illegal crossings but said the surprise arrivals of migrants in their cities was an intentional and cruel effort to overwhelm them for the sake of scoring political points.
Mr. Johnson said another plane that brought more migrants overnight was a “very dangerous task” by the governor.
“Gov. Abbott is determined to sow seeds of chaos,” the Chicago leader said on “Face the Nation.”
Mr. Abbott and other Republican officials have argued that transporting migrants as they surge in record numbers across the U.S.-Mexico border draws attention to the issue and what Republican officials are calling the Biden administration‘s policy failures.
“We understand the flow is coming,” said Mr. Johnston, the Denver chief executive. “We just want it to be coordinated, and in a humanitarian way, which we think makes it effective for the city and for those newcomers. That means things like arriving 8 to 5, Monday to Friday, with notice.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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