Following reports of data showing migration at the southern border smashed monthly records in December, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the Biden administration of “aiding and abetting” drug cartels.
“We’ve got the Biden administration, as I said, aiding and abetting the cartels, encouraging the cartels to make billions of dollars and to bring as many people here as fast as possible, and as soon as possible,” Paxton told Fox News’ Jason Chaffetz on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“That’s what the Biden administration is doing. They’re not just not doing their job, they’re actually encouraging the opposite,” he added.
Paxton was reacting to questions regarding a 15,000-person migrant caravan currently making its way to the border, in addition to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources telling Fox News last week that migrant numbers at the southern border in December broke records for monthly encounters.
President Biden / Texas AG Ken Paxton (Al Drago | Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Ahead of December officially ending, sources said there had been more than 276,000 migrant encounters in the month so far, smashing previous monthly records. Officials anticipate processing 300,000 migrants this month.
Paxton also reacted to the Department of Justice warning Texas leaders on Thursday the state would face legal action if a new immigration law allowing local law enforcement officers to arrest individuals suspected of entering the U.S. illegally is implemented. The law allows state judges to order illegal immigrants to be removed from the country.
Fox News drone video shows group of about 2,200 migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to Eagle Pass, Texas. (Fox News)
“This threat of a lawsuit because we merely want to protect our own citizens from the crime and the cost of illegal immigration, when it’s really their job to do it,” Paxton said of the threat of legal action over the upcoming law.
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 02: Migrants gather outside of the Roosevelt Hotel where dozens of recently arrived migrants have been camping out as they try to secure temporary housing. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Paxton also took issue with mayors of Democrat-led sanctuary cities who have sounded off against the migrant spikes, including blaming Texas for busing migrants to liberal cities, arguing that northern cities are only seeing a fraction of the migrant crisis compared to Texas.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks outside the U.S. Supreme Court on November 01, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“All of these cities during the Trump administration created sanctuary cities and discouraged the Trump administration from blocking the border and keeping these illegals from coming across. Now that the Biden administration is allowing them, and they’re getting a few hundred or a few thousand versus the literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, that the border states are getting. They’re complaining, and it’s a little ironic that … they’re blaming Texas, when all we’re dealing with is a much more significant problem.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House regarding Paxton’s remarks Sunday afternoon.