Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Monday defended President Donald Trump's call to stop people traveling in a caravan toward the United States, saying that his job is to protect U.S. citizens from the threats the migrants may pose.
"We know in Texas; we keep these statistics," Paxton told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We know these people coming in, they commit crimes. We tracked it over the last 6 years. We had over 1,200 homicides. Talk to families suffering the loss of a family member as a result of illegal immigration."
Last week, sources said the Trump administration is considering an order to block the entry of migrants at the southern border using the same authority as its earlier travel ban. Fox News reported Monday that the president could announce the border crackdown this week, as early as on Tuesday.
"He has a statute he used during the travel ban debate which gives him authority to restrict entry of any non-resident aliens he thinks is detrimental to the country," Paxton said, while acknowledging that it is difficult to show proof that the migrants are a danger to the country before they arrive.
"We end up finding proof long after we're here," he said. "That is part of the challenge. We don't know who these people are when they are coming to our border. Some are committing crimes. So the problem is, we find out too late."
The migrant caravan could approach McAllen, Texas, first, as it is a closer entry point than through San Diego, and Paxton said he knows it will be expensive to stop the Central Americans from entering the country.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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