Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is back in action soon after his return to office after winning acquittal in the Texas Senate over accusations of corruption and bribery.
Paxton announced this week he has filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration for its practice of cutting razor wire at the Texas border with Mexico that was erected by the state.
Paxton, who returned to office last month after being impeached by the state House but acquitted in the Senate, is suing the Biden Department of Homeland Security (DHS), DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and other federal agencies and officials.
“Today, I filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration regarding their cutting razor wire at the border. Texas is and will continue to be America’s greatest backstop to the failures of the federal government,” Paxton tweeted on Tuesday.
Video and photos from the border show scores of migrants entering the U.S. through holes cut in the razor wire by federal agents.
Federal border agents have been cutting new openings in the wire fence, sometimes immediately after Texas officers have repaired previous breaches.
“By cutting Texas’s concertina wire, the federal government has not only illegally destroyed property owned by the State of Texas; it has also disrupted the State’s border deterrence efforts, leaving gaps in Texas’s border barriers and damaging Texas’s ability to effectively deter illegal entry into Texas,” according to a press release issued by Paxton’s office.
“With this lawsuit, Attorney General Paxton seeks to end this ongoing, unlawful practice which undermines Texas’s border security efforts. Texas is asking the court to enjoin the federal defendants from continuing to destroy and damage private property — without statutory authority and in violation of federal law,” the release said.
In a statement, Paxton said, “Texas has the sovereign right to construct border barriers to prevent the entry of illegal aliens. Americans across the country were horrified to watch Biden’s open-border policy in action: agents were physically cutting wires and assisting the aliens’ entry into our state. This is illegal. It puts our country and our citizens at risk. The courts must put a stop to it, or Biden’s free-for-all will make this crushing immigration crisis even worse.”
Meanwhile, as the state House debated legislation on illegal border crossings, House Speaker Dade Phelan, the Republican who engineered the impeachment of Paxton, ordered the attorney general be kicked out of the chamber.
The incident was first reported by state Rep. Steve Toth in a video posted to X, and confirmed to Texas Scorecard by Paxton’s office and other lawmakers who were present.
“Dade Phelan is doubling down on stupid,” said Toth. “We had Ken Paxton over in the House today to say hello and to look at legislation that we’re moving through the House and Dade Phelan actually sent the sergeant at arms to kick the attorney general out of the Texas House.”
The Texas Scorecard cited sources inside the House as saying Paxton was invited by several members of the chamber.
“While access to the floor of the House is limited when business is being conducted, statewide officials and former members of the Texas House—of which Paxton is both—are regularly granted access,” the Texas Scorecard noted.
Dade Phelan had the Sergeant at Arms remove our Attorney General @KenPaxtonTX from House Chambers. Paxton is the one who will defend the laws we pass and Dade’s doubling down on his failed impeachment madness. #TexLege pic.twitter.com/qWUvZ0YMX0
— Steve Toth (@Toth_4_Texas) October 26, 2023
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