AG Paxton: 'We Had to Sue' to Reinstate Trump Border Policy

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Newsmax Friday that his state had to sue the administration of President Joe Biden to bring back former President Donald Trump's remain in Mexico policy to stem the surge of illegal migrants coming across the southern border.

"[The Biden administration] clearly went away from the stay in Mexico program," Paxton said on Newsmax Friday night. "They did it immediately as soon as [Biden] was inaugurated and their results show immigration, illegal immigration, tripled, and we had over 200,000 people crossing over the border every month.

"So, we had to sue him, and they still didn't follow. It went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and it was only after we filed the motion to enforce (the Supreme Court's order to reinstate the policy) that they actually started enforcing federal law."

Biden reversed the Trump border policies his first day in office and illegal migration surged to record levels, reaching some 200,000 per month during the summer.

At the request of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Paxton's office sued the Biden administration to reinstate the remain in Mexico policy, where migrants would wait in that country until their case came up in court in the United States, which cut down on the number of illegal crossings.

The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled to reinstate the policy earlier this year, but the Biden administration has yet to implement the court order.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that it was reinstating the policy in line with the court order, but Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told NPR that the policy "has endemic flaws, imposed unjustifiable human costs, pulled resources and personnel away from other priority efforts, and failed to address the root causes of irregular migration."

Paxton said that while remain in Mexico is a "huge" policy win, the administration needs to stop its "catch and release" policy where illegal migrants are briefly detained once they cross the border but are then issued a summons and released into the United States pending a court appearance that they often ignore.

"Certainly, the remain in Mexico premise was huge," Paxton said. "It was hugely successful, but we also need to stop catch and release. The border agents need to be able to stop people from coming in, as opposed to when they come in, turning themselves in, and they're in detention centers in the center of the country, so this definitely won't solve the whole problem, [but] I think that's probably the next biggest thing they could do."