Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday for “illegally pre-approving” migrants to enter the United States through a mobile app that Paxton argues encourages illegal immigration.
After Title 42 ended earlier this month, Biden’s administration published a new rule that requires asylum-seekers to apply for protection in any safe third country before they arrive in the United States.
However, migrants can use an easily downloadable mobile app to circumvent the administration’s new rule.
As Breitbart News reported:
The mobile app, known as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) One, entices foreign nationals living in Mexico who are pregnant, mentally ill, elderly, disabled, homeless, or crime victims to schedule an appointment with agents at the border in the hopes of being released into American communities.
Foreign nationals in Mexico can submit their application for an appointment through the CBP One app up to 14 days in advance and then show up at eight Ports of Entry in Arizona, Texas, and California for their appointment.
Paxton said the Biden administration “deliberately conceived of this phone app with the goal of illegally pre-approving more foreign aliens to enter the country and go where they please once they arrive.”
Paxton said in a statement:
Joe Biden, Alejandro Mayorkas, and the entire Biden Administration have prioritized creating and protecting new ways for illegal aliens to stream into this country, no matter the cost or consequence to struggling American citizens. Time after time, my office has shown that we will fight back in court to defeat their unlawful open-borders policies. We intend to stop this rule from wreaking further havoc on the people of Texas.
However, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended the app, arguing it provides a “safe, orderly, and humane way” to process migrants.
“Lawful pathways like making an appointment to appear at a port of entry using the CBP One app allow us to process migrants in a safe, orderly, and humane way and reduce unlawful immigration. This is particularly critical at a time when Congress has failed to reform our broken immigration system,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Biden’s administration plans to increase the number of migrants it allows to enter the country daily through the mobile app from 740 to 1,000, according to CBS News.
Texas said the mobile app “works in conjunction with the Administration’s expanded parole policies and processes to expedite and streamline the processing of aliens at the border and move them into the country more quickly,” according to the lawsuit.
“By inviting illegal aliens into Texas, Defendants will inflict costs on the State for public education, law enforcement and incarceration, unreimbursed health care, and other public services for illegal aliens,” the lawsuit further stated.
The case is Texas v. Mayorkas, No. 2:23-cv-00024 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
