Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Newsmax that the Biden administration's immigration parole program is illegal and will have lasting economic and social effects on his state.
The program would allow 360,000 would-be asylum-seekers from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the U.S. via plane each year.
Texas and 19 other states on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Victoria, Texas, to block the program.
"Since President [Joe] Biden took over as president, the number of illegal immigrants has dramatically increased — it’s a multiple of three or four times it has been in the past — and it's having an impact on my state and, I assume, other states as well as we deal with the cost of that, both economically and socially," Paxton said Wednesday during an appearance on "John Bachman Now."
"We have higher rates of crimes, more drug overdoses, we have more human trafficking, and of course we’re paying for this financially as well. It’s very important because none of this is authorized by federal law; nor should the president be overriding anything Congress does. It’s not his role."
Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month announced the program, saying it will allow 30,000 people per month to enter the U.S. legally if they apply from their home countries, pass a background check, and prove they have a financial supporter in the country.
The lawsuit claims the program is not legal.
"The parole program established by the Department fails each of the law’s three limiting factors. It is not case-by-case, is not for urgent humanitarian reasons, and advances no significant public benefit," the lawsuit says.
Paxton also said he'd like to see the "comprehensive strategy" Mayorkas is executing to secure the border.
"For Mayorkas to say we have a comprehensive plan that they’re working on, I’d like to know what that is," Paxton told Newsmax.
"They’ve had two years and they dismantled the program that was working. Why not go back to things that work instead of continuing to lie to us?"
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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