Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said Saturday that White House press secretary Jen Psaki “doesn’t understand the reality of what’s happening” at the state’s border.
In an appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Paxton referenced Psaki’s comments earlier in the week in which she dismissed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) vow to bus migrants who illegally cross the southern border to Washington, D.C., as a “publicity stunt.”
Paxton said, “I wish it was only a publicity stunt. She doesn’t understand the reality, or doesn’t care about the reality, of what’s happening on the Texas border.”
He added that the situation at the state’s border was “ultimately, what’s happening to all of our states, because really every state is a border state now, affected by what’s going on along the border.”
Paxton insisted this is a “real issue” and the pledge to bus migrants to Washington, D.C, is not a “publicity stunt.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
Abbott on Wednesday said his state would bus and fly undocumented immigrants who cross into Texas to the nation’s capital, in response to the Biden administration’s move to wind down Title 42, a health order that has allowed the government to turn away nearly 2 million migrants because of pandemic concerns.
“To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed by hordes of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden administration, Texas is providing charter buses to send these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden administration to Washington, D.C.,” Abbott said.
The Biden administration last week rescinded Title 42, effective May 23.
The move comes after years of pressure from Democrats and frustration from immigration advocates who had pushed for the end of a policy they viewed as illegal and cruel to those fleeing from persecution and danger.
Republicans and some moderate Democrats have criticized the lifting of Title 42, echoing Abbott’s concern that the border will be flooded with migrants.