Ken Paxton argues that border crisis will be felt for ‘decades to come’

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed that the United States’s border crisis will impact the country for “decades to come,” as many Republicans have focused on the border as an issue impacting the U.S.

While appearing on Sunday Morning Futures, Paxton was asked about a report from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which stated that 2,475,667 migrants had illegally crossed the southwest border of the U.S. in the CBP’s fiscal year 2023, which was from October 2022 through September 2023. Paxton argued that the influx of illegal crossings has left a “huge economic impact” on the state of Texas, which has spent “billions of dollars” trying to secure its border.

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“Crime has increased dramatically as a result, and of course, many, many of our children are dying from fentanyl doses because the border’s wide open,” Paxton said. “So it’s having a dramatic impact on my state. I know that this is not staying in Texas. This is going to impact the entire country for not just years, I think decades to come.”

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird also expressed concern about the lack of border security, stating that “every state is a border state” and that Iowa, despite being far from the southern border, is still being impacted by illegal crossings. Bird has endorsed former President Donald Trump in his bid for the 2024 presidential election and stated that he will secure the border because “he did that as president.”

Paxton expressed similar views about Trump, stating that he was “very encouraged” to see him exceeding in the polls. He added that he hopes the U.S. can get a president “like him” to enforce policies and laws to protect Texas and the rest of the U.S.

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Data from the CBP released on Saturday revealed that border authorities arrested over 2 million people who attempted to enter the country unlawfully from Mexico or Canada over the past 12 months. The report marks the second time ever that that figure has topped the 1986 record of 1.692 million.

Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) has criticized the Biden administration over its handling of border security, claiming the administration “puts politics above the safety of Americans.”