States allege ‘arbitrary and capricious’ decision-making for ‘irresponsible border security’
McALLEN, TX (Border report) – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that Texas and Missouri have filed a lawsuit demanding that the Biden administration reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program to curb the influx of migrants on the southwestern border.
President Donald Trump implemented the MPP, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program, which forced migrants to wait for the asylum process in Mexico. Several Republican lawmakers who have traveled and visited the South Texas border in recent weeks have also called for the policy to be reinstated. President Joe Biden ended politics when he took control of the White House.
“President Biden could immediately address the influx of crime crossing our border by restoring migrant protection protocols. Dangerous criminals profit from the failure of law enforcement and this results in human trafficking, smuggling, a plethora of violent crimes and a massive and unprecedented burden on state and federal programs for which taxpayers have to foot the bill,” Paxton said in a statement.
The lawsuit was filed against: Biden; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and his agency; Acting Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection Troy Miller; Tae Johnson, acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Tracy Renaud, Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Renaud’s agency. He argues that “the MPP changed the incentives for economic migrants with low asylum claims, and therefore reduced the flow of foreigners – including human-trafficking foreigners – to the southern border.”
It also alleges that Biden acted with “unexplained and inexplicable” reasons to temporarily halt the program in which nearly 70,000 asylum seekers were forced to wait in Mexico while they immigrated to the United States.
“The result of this arbitrary and capricious decision was a huge wave of Central American migrants, including thousands of unaccompanied minors, passing through Mexico in order to advance baseless asylum claims at the US border,” claims the lawsuit.
“This arbitrary and capricious decision was a huge wave of Central American migrants, including thousands of unaccompanied minors, passing through Mexico in order to advance baseless asylum claims at the US border.
Lawsuit against the Biden administration to reinstate the MPP
Lawsuit alleges Texas communities are suffering financially “as organized crime and drug cartels prey on migrant communities and children through human trafficking, violence, extortion , sexual assault and exploitation”.
“We can no longer let this anarchy destroy our communities. President Biden must act,” Paxton said.
Missouri joined the lawsuit saying that illegal migration north affects inland states. He also called current immigration policies “irresponsible border security policies that invite and encourage human traffickers.”
“With its intersection of major interstate highways, Missouri is a major destination and hub for human trafficking,” the lawsuit states.
Along with accusations that the Biden administration acted “arbitrarily and capriciously,” the lawsuit also accuses the federal government of failing to notify and consult with Texas.
Mayorkas has been to the Texas-Mexico border several times recently, including a visit last week to McAllen and El Paso. He did not speak to the media but claimed in a recent tweet that the Biden administration is working to provide a “humane” process for seeking asylum in the United States.
Several Republican-led congressional delegations have called on Vice President Kamala Harris, as Border Czar, to go to the border herself and offer real-time solutions.
On Monday, U.S. Representative Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from McAllen, brought a bipartisan Problem Solver Caucus delegation to visit the southern Texas border. After a weekend visit to the region, they told media at a news conference, Gonzalez suggested setting up a processing facility on Mexico’s southern border or Mexico’s northern border. Guatemala, to prevent thousands of migrants from crossing the Rio Grande and running over US Border Patrol agents.
The creation of such facilities would require the cooperation of Mexico and probably the Guatemalan governments. The Biden administration has so far not commented on such a proposal.
