Attorney General Ken Paxton released a statement following the argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit regarding Texas's lawsuit against the federal government over concertina wire at the border.
"Today, Texas made an outstanding case for our right to defend our State and protect our property from destruction by the federal government," Paxton stated. "We emphasized that a judge found that federal border officials destroyed our State’s property not to enforce federal law but rather to facilitate illegal border crossing."
Paxton further claimed that the Biden Administration was not transparent with the Supreme Court about Texas’s border security actions. He addressed media reports earlier this year blaming Texas for deaths at an illegal border crossing in the Rio Grande, stating, "That narrative has been completely disproven, revealing that these tragic deaths were weaponized to score political points."
He added, "Not only has Texas shown that the federal government knew at the time that Texas was not responsible for the tragedy but even the federal government now agrees this issue is irrelevant to any of the questions properly before the court."
Paxton urged the court to review video footage from September 20, 2023, which he claims shows federal officials cutting Texas’s concertina wire to allow illegal crossings.
Additionally, Paxton pointed out contradictions between President Biden’s recent Executive Order and his Administration's arguments in this case. He argued that while migrants cannot be turned away under current policies because they are entitled to asylum protections upon entering U.S. soil, Biden's Executive Order aims to reduce border crossings by turning away some asylum seekers.
"As a consequence," Paxton concluded, "Biden has drastically weakened his own position in this litigation."
"I will continue to pursue every remedy available to stand up for our citizens against Biden’s border catastrophe," he asserted.