Texas AG Paxton to Newsmax: Border Patrol Agents 'Do Not Like' Biden Orders
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/ken-paxton-texas-joe-biden/2024/01/30/id/1151575/
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Newsmax on Tuesday that the Border Patrol agents in Texas who are taking down the razor wire that the state put up to keep out illegal migrants "do not like" what the Biden administration is ordering them to do.
"I don't think there's tension between the actual people on the ground," Paxton said on Newsmax's "National Report." "The Border Patrol do not like what they're being forced to do. They do it because they're forced by [President] Joe Biden and his administration. On day one of his administration, he said that he was not going to deport people anymore and ever since then, we've been in litigation with them over immigration, and he's continued to let people in. But that's not what law enforcement wants. I can tell you nobody wants what he wants.
"Basically, he's decided, to the detriment of the American public, that he's going to bring these people in, work with the cartels every day, because the cartels make money off every person coming through and he's making it easier for them because they don't have to hide anymore. They just turn themselves in. It also allows the cartels to import more drugs, so it's been very profitable and good for the cartels. It has not been good for Americans because of the increased crime, the risk of terrorism and the cost that every state is going to bear as a result of this."
Texas has continued to install razor wire at the U.S.-Mexico border, even as federal agents were given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court last week to cut it down.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the razor wire an "effective deterrent against the illegal border crossings" and vowed to "continue to deploy this razor wire to repel illegal immigration."
Paxton on Tuesday also commented on the state's fight with the federal government over Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, which the Biden administration has sought unsuccessfully to enter since Texas cordoned it off.
"This is property owned by the government in Texas," Paxton said. "The federal government has no right to come and take over that property — which is used for recreational purposes, that's being funded by tax dollars in Texas — and use it as a way to increase the number of people crossing the border and potentially, as we know, increasing crime in the area, and so, absolutely we're going to keep them out. They have no right to take it over.
"It's only a 2.5-mile area. It's interesting to me that there's 1,260 something miles of border and they're mad about 2.5 miles when they're letting people in all over the place. So, it's an interesting fight that doesn't seem, in my opinion, to have a lot of purpose for them. It has a lot of purpose for us because this is a park that residents use for recreational purposes."