The state of Texas has sued the Biden Administration over stopping Title 42 expulsions of immigrants crossing the southern border.
"The Biden Administration has made one disastrous border decision after another, and I've sued him at every turn," said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. "But his new plan to rescind Title 42 is the most consequential yet. Without Title 42, hundreds of thousands more illegal aliens will flood Texas every month — even more than have been pouring over in the past year."
Paxton noted that Biden's goal is simple.
"Get as many illegals in this country as fast as possible without any concern for the potential criminal or terrorist background of those crossing the border," the attorney general said. "This is allowing the cartels to maximize their profits and their effectiveness. Biden cannot make such sweeping decisions without going through the process required by federal law. He didn't, so I'm suing. I'll hold him accountable and do all I can to protect Texans."
The border situation is becoming more critical, with 159,900 unique individuals encountered nationwide in March 2022, a 37% increase over February 2022; a recent report from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) said.
In March, there were 221,303 total encounters along the southwest land border, a 33% increase when compared to February, the report said. But total numbers may be misleading, as the increased number of expulsions resulted in higher than normal occurrences of multiple crossing attempts.
Of the 221,303 encounters, "28% involved individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, compared to an average one-year re-encounter rate of 14% for FY2014-2019," CBP said.
A commentary by the Wall Street Journal editorial board said that the end of Title 42 expulsions, which since March 2020 has rejected 2 million migrants, "is an invitation for migrants to keep coming for any reason."
The Texas lawsuit said that stricter policies lower the number of migrants who attempt to cross the border.
"Reducing the likelihood that an alien will be released into the United States reduces the number of aliens who attempt to enter the United States illegally," the lawsuit said.
One possible solution to the migrant influx at the border is to declare the southern border crisis an "invasion," which would create the opportunity to use state personnel to deport migrants, but it also could subject Texas law enforcement to federal scrutiny, the Texas Tribune reported recently. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has reportedly been thinking the idea over.
In October 2021, the Center for Renewing America said that the immigration problem at the southern border has given rise to increased human and drug trafficking and brought millions of dollars to cartels that get rich from migrants attempting to enter the U.S.