Texas AG Accuses Biden of ‘Running Logistics’ for Drug Cartels

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused President Joe Biden of “running logistics for the cartels” in Mexico.

“The very first day Joe Biden came into office, he announced there would be no more deportations [of migrants]. Why would he announce that? He was sending a signal to the cartels to get these people here as fast as they can. He was running logistics for the cartels,” Paxton said Saturday while delivering remarks to the Davis County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day fundraising dinner in Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Despite what Paxton claims, Biden has continued deportations, although his administration has focused mostly on deporting those with serious criminal convictions. He has ceased worksite sweeps, barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from detaining crime victims and pregnant or nursing mothers, and stopped ICE from long-term detention of migrant families with children. Due to congressional inaction, Biden has used executive action to shape immigration policy, and he has recently ramped up the number of deportations. In 2023, ICE deported over 142,000 immigrants — nearly doubling the number of deportations in 2022.

The president is currently considering using executive action to further restrict immigrants’ ability to claim asylum after immigration legislation failed in Congress. This has earned Biden criticism from some Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Seeking asylum is a legal right of all people. In the face of authoritarian threat, we should not buckle on our principles — we should commit to them.”

Speaking in Utah, Paxton also claimed that “many” U.S. states would not have joined the union had they known “the federal government could not defend us.”

“How many of our states would have joined the union knowing that the federal government could not defend us and we were not allowed to defend ourselves?” the attorney general said. “I can tell you that Texas would have never joined the union if that were the deal.”

“It seems pretty crazy, and hard to believe, that we have a government that is working against its own citizens and helping the cartels move as many people across the border as possible,” he added. (Perhaps it sounds “crazy” and “hard to believe” because it’s not true?)

Paxton, currently in his third term as A.G., is engaged, along with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, in a protracted battle with Biden over the U.S.-Mexico border. Abbott has dispatched Texas National Guardsmen to the border where they seized control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass last month. The Texas National Guard since then has denied U.S. Border Control entry into the area. Abbott has said that Eagle Park is only the beginning, and he plans to seize control of additional areas along the border.

Abbott has also trolled Democratically-led cities and states by transporting migrants out of Texas to places like Chicago, Denver, New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. In New York, migrants have overwhelmed the city’s shelter system. The Abbott administration estimated it sent approximately 75,000 migrants to these cities between April 2022 and December 2023.

Paxton has repeatedly boasted about the almost two dozen lawsuits he filed against the Biden administration regarding immigration. Last year, Paxton faced impeachment charges, including bribery and abuse of public trust, but he was acquitted.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused President Joe Biden of “running logistics for the cartels” in Mexico.

“The very first day Joe Biden came into office, he announced there would be no more deportations [of migrants]. Why would he announce that? He was sending a signal to the cartels to get these people here as fast as they can. He was running logistics for the cartels,” Paxton said Saturday while delivering remarks to the Davis County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day fundraising dinner in Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Despite what Paxton claims, Biden has continued deportations, although his administration has focused mostly on deporting those with serious criminal convictions. He has ceased worksite sweeps, barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from detaining crime victims and pregnant or nursing mothers, and stopped ICE from long-term detention of migrant families with children. Due to congressional inaction, Biden has used executive action to shape immigration policy, and he has recently ramped up the number of deportations. In 2023, ICE deported over 142,000 immigrants — nearly doubling the number of deportations in 2022.

The president is currently considering using executive action to further restrict immigrants’ ability to claim asylum after immigration legislation failed in Congress. This has earned Biden criticism from some Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Seeking asylum is a legal right of all people. In the face of authoritarian threat, we should not buckle on our principles — we should commit to them.”

Speaking in Utah, Paxton also claimed that “many” U.S. states would not have joined the union had they known “the federal government could not defend us.”

“How many of our states would have joined the union knowing that the federal government could not defend us and we were not allowed to defend ourselves?” the attorney general said. “I can tell you that Texas would have never joined the union if that were the deal.”

“It seems pretty crazy, and hard to believe, that we have a government that is working against its own citizens and helping the cartels move as many people across the border as possible,” he added. (Perhaps it sounds “crazy” and “hard to believe” because it’s not true?)

Paxton, currently in his third term as A.G., is engaged, along with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, in a protracted battle with Biden over the U.S.-Mexico border. Abbott has dispatched Texas National Guardsmen to the border where they seized control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass last month. The Texas National Guard since then has denied U.S. Border Control entry into the area. Abbott has said that Eagle Park is only the beginning, and he plans to seize control of additional areas along the border.

Abbott has also trolled Democratically-led cities and states by transporting migrants out of Texas to places like Chicago, Denver, New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. In New York, migrants have overwhelmed the city’s shelter system. The Abbott administration estimated it sent approximately 75,000 migrants to these cities between April 2022 and December 2023.

Paxton has repeatedly boasted about the almost two dozen lawsuits he filed against the Biden administration regarding immigration. Last year, Paxton faced impeachment charges, including bribery and abuse of public trust, but he was acquitted.