The national fight over the border crisis remains intense as large numbers of migrants continue to cross into the United States. The Biden administration has faced sustained criticism from Republicans and border-state officials who argue the White House has failed to take meaningful action to address the situation.
Texas and other states along the southern border have been at the center of the dispute, with state leaders repeatedly accusing Washington of neglecting border security. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, one of President Joe Biden’s most outspoken critics on the issue, went further during an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” accusing the administration of “aiding and abetting” Mexican drug cartels at the southern border.
In the interview, Paxton said the border situation is “costing us billions of dollars” and has contributed to what he described as increases in “human trafficking” and “drug trafficking.”
We have literally thousands of kids dying from fentanyl overdoses that don’t have to die because we have the cartels having an easy line into Texas and an easy line to get into the country. And so it is having a significant impact, and it is going to spread beyond Texas, beyond the border states. It is an American problem. And I think it’s clearly caused by the Biden administration.
Paxton also accused the Biden administration of interfering with Texas’ border enforcement efforts, saying federal officials have been “cutting down our fences” and “cutting down our wire.”
And instead, we’ve got the Biden administration, as I said, aiding and abetting the cartels, encouraging the cartels to make billions of dollars and to bring as many people here as fast as possible and as soon as possible. That’s what the Biden administration is doing. They’re not just not doing their job. They’re actually encouraging the opposite.
Last month, the House Homeland Security Committee conducted interviews with eight Border Patrol officials. According to the committee, part of the discussion focused on how cartels have expanded their influence amid the border crisis. The interviews described what officials called unprecedented cartel control along the southwest border and cited estimates that cartels made $13 billion from human smuggling in 2021 alone. Officials also said cartels have used the flow of migrants to divert agents’ attention from drug-smuggling operations.
Earlier this year, Secretary Mayorkas admitted before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was unaware of the method used by the cartels to overwhelm border agents in order to sneak aliens and drugs across the border—a tactic described by the chief patrol agents in these interviews—and he even admitted that he was unaware of their use of wristbands to keep track of the illegal aliens being smuggled and trafficked.
Paxton and other critics argue that the administration’s handling of the border has made it easier for cartels to continue operating. They point in particular to the impact of fentanyl trafficking, which has contributed to a sharp rise in overdose deaths across the United States.
