By Gregory
The Biden administration has been sued by Texas and Missouri over its immigration policy which they claim is responsible for a surge of illegal immigrants and crime in their states, new court papers show.
The lawsuit, filed in Texas Federal court Tuesday, takes issue with the fact that the Biden administration did away with the Migrant Protection Protocols of the Trump administration which held would-be immigrants in Mexico while their asylum cases were pending in the US, Fox News reported.
The current administration’s policy to stop the MPP — or the “Remain-in-Mexico” program — the first day President Joe Biden took office was “arbitrary and capricious” and has caused thousands of children to come to the border with “meritless asylum claims,” the suit alleges.
“MPP played a critical role in addressing” the immigration border crisis and it also “discouraged aliens from attempting illegal entry or making meritless asylum claims in the hope of staying inside the United States,” the court papers say.
But since its rollback Texas has incurred costs “as organized crime and drug cartels prey on migrant communities and children through human trafficking, violence, extortion, sexual assault, and exploitation,” the court documents claim.
This effects local Texas communities and also adds costs to the taxpayers since they must provide housing, education, healthcare and other social services to the immigrants and victims of trafficking, the suit adds.
Missouri is also effected and forced to spend significant resources as a result of the rollback of MPP fighting human-trafficking as it’s a “destination and transit state for many human traffickers,” the court papers allege.
“Indeed, irresponsible border-security policies that invite and encourage human traffickers to exploit vulnerable border-crossing victims irreparably injure Missouri and other states,” the suit says.
Further, the policy decision “threatens damage to the bilateral relationship between the United States and Mexico,” the court papers claim.
The states are asking for a judge to set aside the Jan. 20 order that suspended the MPP.
“President Biden could immediately remedy the influx of crime pouring across our border by reinstating the Migrant Protection Protocols,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.
“Dangerous criminals are taking advantage of the lapse in law enforcement and it’s resulting in human trafficking, smuggling, a plethora of violent crimes, and a massive, unprecedented burden on state and federal programs for which taxpayers must foot the bill,” Paxton said.
“We cannot allow this lawlessness to destroy our communities any longer. President Biden must act.”
A White House spokesperson said that Biden believes the humanitarian crisis in Northern Mexico — including migrants staying in camps with poor living conditions — was caused by MPP and is the reason why he repealed the policy.
