Who Is Ken Paxton?

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in October 2023 with accusation that Border Patrol was illegally destroying Texas state property while helping illegal aliens to break American law. According to Joseph MacKinnon at Blaze Media, the lawsuit further asserted that federal agents “not only cut Texas’ concertina wire, but also attach[ed] ropes or cables from the back of pickup trucks to ease” the way for illegal aliens to break into the United States. 

MacKinnon reported that the Fifth Circuit Court issued a temporary order on the matter in December 2023 that prohibited the federal government from cutting the wire with the exception of medical emergencies. In January 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the order and sent the case back to lower courts. The most recent ruling came the day before Thanksgiving Day 2024.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 opinion Wednesday granting Texas a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan … noted in the majority opinion:

The injunction is not barred by intergovernmental immunity because Texas is seeking, not to “regulate” Border Patrol, but only to safeguard its own property. Nor, for similar reasons, is the injunction barred by the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). Finally, Texas has satisfied the injunction factors from Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7 (2008). Most importantly, the United States does not even contest that Texas has shown it will likely succeed on its state law trespass claims.

The court noted that while the Biden administration contends that the concertina wire poses a risk to human safety, the administration’s own behavior does as well as it has “facilitated and encouraged aliens to ‘undertake the dangerous task of crossing the river.’”

The court also rejected the Biden administration that the Lone Star State’s fencing undermines international relations, adding that “concerns about international relations do not erase property owners’ rights over thousands of square miles along the border.” …

The ever-defiant Republican Gov. Greg Abbott noted in response to the ruling that Texas will “continue adding more razor wire border barrier.”

Paxton called the result a “huge win for Texas,” tweeting, “We sued immediately when the federal government was observed destroying fences to let illegal aliens enter, and we’ve fought every step of the way for Texas sovereignty and security.”

“It was shocking to me that the federal government would go out of their way to cut razor wire to allow illegals to cross when we’re just trying to protect our own land,” Paxton reportedly told Newsmax Wednesday evening. “This wasn’t their land. This was our land, our private property. It had nothing due to the federal government. So this is a good win for Texas, a good win for the country, that this court recognized our ability to protect our land.”