Ken Paxton has evaded trial for years. But on immigration, he can't get enough of going to court
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Texas’ corrupt attorney general has yet again sued the Biden administration, this time over policy that would allow asylum officers to handle cases instead of leaving them solely to immigration judges.
The rule could ease the massive caseload facing immigration courts. It could help some vulnerable people seeking asylum (going to the border and asking for safety is the process when Stephen Miller’s anti-asylum Title 42 policy isn’t in place). But Ken Paxton, indicted in 2015 on felony securities fraud charges, just can’t have that.
RELATED STORY: Biden administration readies new policy intended to speed up asylum process
Because Paxton is an influential white man in a powerful elected position, he’s managed to delay his trial for years. But when it comes to taking the president to court over lawful policies intended to improve our unfair immigration system, Paxton can’t get enough of the legal system.
In fact, if going to court had a “file 11 lawsuits, get the 12th one free” card, he’d be close to his freebie. That’s because the against the Biden administration’s asylum change is his 11th immigration-related suit. It’s barely been a week since Paxton also sued the Biden administration over its plan to end the use of Miller’s anti-asylum Title 42 policy. The Texas attorney general sued the administration over Title 42, knowing full well that a separate lawsuit led by Arizona, Louisiana, and Missouri would be successful.
A GOP-appointed judge sided with the states and blocked the administration from winding down the policy before the scheduled May 23 date. Policy experts noted the judge gave no legal analysis in his order and seems likely to block the termination itself when that deadline comes. Remember, Republicans truly believe Democratic presidents shouldn’t be able to govern (or win elections, for that matter).
Paxton has also fought to delay his own trial as he’s also gone all the way to Washington, D.C., in his efforts to sabotage the Biden administration’s immigration agenda. Paxton launched the lawsuit that eventually forced the administration to reinstate the inhumane Remain in Mexico policy. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments around the effort to terminate the program last week. Some observers said there could—could—be a chance the president wins this one. We’ll see. But sure enough, Paxton was there for the oral arguments. When it comes to his own trial, however, he’s MIA.
The administration’s policy change giving trained U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers more authority to handle cases was generally well received, though advocates and lawmakers said the administration needed to “ensure the due process rights of asylum seekers are protected under this new rule.”
It could also help relieve some of the huge burden facing immigration courts. “As of March, immigration judges had nearly 1.7 million pending cases—the largest backlog in the country’s history, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University,” The Texas Tribune reported. We know Paxton is a big fan of having decisions related to his corruption delayed for years. He feels that immigrants should have to wait years for their decisions too. He feels immigrants shouldn’t be able to access the legal asylum system, period.
RELATED STORIES: Texas’ corrupt attorney general hopes the courts can yet again help him sabotage Biden’s agenda
Republican-appointed judge sides with states suing over Biden admin’s Title 42 wind down
LGBTQ advocates remind us that Stephen Miller was scheming policy ‘long before’ COVID ‘even existed’