We noted earlier this month that a number of Republican states didn’t waste any time in suing over the Biden administration’s just decision to end use of Stephen Miller’s Title 42 order by the end of next month. That was not surprising, but what was surprising was that Texas—which has steadily used the courts to sabotage the administration’s immigration actions—was not among them.
But that changed last Friday when the state’s very corrupt attorney general sued. Ken Paxton, who has yet to go to trial for felony securities fraud charges, touted the lawsuit as his 10th immigration-related suit against the administration.
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Paxton’s statement is chock-full of anti-immigrant imagery and makes no secret of the fact that Miller’s policy has never been about public health and the pandemic, but rather about blocking vulnerable people from their U.S. asylum rights. “The suit adds that if the Biden administration follows through with lifting the order, Texas will have to pay for social services for the migrants who enter the country,” The Texas Tribune reported.
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But it’s been Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who has been using taxpayer funds to bus asylum-seekers to Washington, D.C., as a disgusting fuck you to President Joe Biden. Thankfully, local advocates have pledged to aid families despicably used as human props by the governor. More recently, the Biden administration has urged a judge to deny the initial lawsuit brought on by the Republican attorneys general of Arizona, Louisiana, and Missouri. CNN reports that since they launched their lawsuit earlier this month, more than a dozen states have joined them in the litigation.
Back in Texas, Paxton had asked the GOP judge who last month ruled that the president can’t exempt unaccompanied children from Title 42 to amend that lawsuit in light of the administration’s recent move to end use of the policy. That judge, appointed by the insurrectionist president, surprisingly declined to do so. Texas has again sued.
“They’ve sued the administration over everything from mask mandates to blocking the Keystone XL Pipeline, but Paxton’s favorite target is immigration,” America’s Voice Legal Adviser David Leopold has previously said. “The Republicans start by attacking Biden’s immigration policy before Trump appointed judges in Texas, all the while knowing that whatever happens they’re all but guaranteed a warm reception in the 5th circuit court of appeals.” Republicans truly believe that Democrats have no right to govern.
The lawsuits and court proceedings come as LGBTQ migrant advocacy groups recently reminded people of the farcical nature of the Title 42 policy. Immigration Equality Executive Director Aaron Morris told the Los Angeles Blade that the order was “the brainchild of Stephen Miller long before COVID-19 even existed.” The New York Times reported nearly two years ago that Miller had already decided he would use public health as his excuse to deport vulnerable people back to danger, he just needed a virus.
Paxton was also quick to go to court when needed even as he’s managed to delay his own trial for years.
“The initial criminal case dates back to 2015,” Texas Standard reported last year. “Paxton is accused of duping people in a McKinney, Texas,-based investment scheme. He was indicted and released on bond, but thanks to a range of delays, the case has yet to face trial. The case has been transferred from Collin County to Harris County and then back to Collin, after Hurricane Harvey forced courts to close at the time.” He’s faced other accusations of misconduct since then. So that’s just one reason why Paxton would rather talk about immigrants.
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