Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, on Friday filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden's administration to stop the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from lifting the health order known as Title 42.
The order, which was enacted under former President Donald Trump, was used almost 2 million times to expel immigrants, including asylum seekers, who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The order was imposed by federal officials to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and is set to be lifted on May 23 since cases of the virus have started to decrease and vaccination rates have improved.
The lawsuit which was filed in the Southern District of Texas, claims that the Biden administration did not follow the proper procedure to lift the order, and adds that if the order is lifted, then Texas will have to fund social services for immigrants.
"The Biden Administration's disastrous open border policies and its confusing and haphazard COVID-19 response have combined to create a humanitarian and public safety crisis on our southern border," the lawsuit reads.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who was named in the suit as a defendant, said earlier this week: "You don't use a health law to deal with a migration challenge. You use migration laws to deal with migration challenges. You can't use the cover of health to try to deal with a migration challenge."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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