Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration Friday in efforts to prevent the Biden administration from ending Title 42, a Trump-era policy of expelling migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The lawsuit argues that the Biden administration violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act by failing to follow appropriate administrative procedure needed to lift Title 42. It went on to criticize the Biden border policies over the course of his administration.
“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 says, which was filed in the Southern District of Texas in Victoria.
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. It is the latest in a slew of lawsuits over ending Title 43. On Thursday, more than 20 states filed a separate lawsuit asking a federal judge in Louisiana to prevent the federal government from acting.
In a statement, Paxton called Biden’s recent decision to life Title 42 as his “most consequential yet” and warned that he expects to see an increase in illegal border crossings as a result.
However, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said on Thursday during a virtual event with the Council on Foreign Relations that health orders are not immigration policies.
“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,” he said.
