Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on January 28 that he has joined six other states in a lawsuit against the Biden Administration for allegedly abusing the Central American Minors (CAM) Refugee and Parole Program.
The CAM refugee and parole program allows certain qualified children and their family members who are nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras to apply for refugee status and possible resettlement in the United States, the program’s website explains.
Only certain parents or legal guardians who are lawfully present in the United States may apply for their children to participate in the program, per the program’s guidelines. Unmarried children under the age of 21 who are citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras are eligible.
A qualifying child’s in-country parent may also qualify for access in some cases. If a qualifying child has children or other eligible family members who are under the age of 21 and unmarried, they may also be eligible.
“The Biden Administration has sown nothing but disaster for our country through its illegal, unconstitutional immigration policies,” Paxton said in a press release. “Biden’s latest round of flagrant law-breaking includes his Central American Minors Program, which has contributed significantly to many states being forced to take in even more aliens. My fellow attorneys general and I are suing to stop it.”
Kevin Saucedo-Broach, Chief of Staff to the Virginia House Democratic Whip, tweeted in response, writing, “The same republicans who yell and scream about “immigrating here legally” also oppose legal immigration. Maybe just be honest that you don’t want any Latino immigrants at all?”
Catherine Rampell, a Washington Post columnist and CNN commentator, echoed a similar sentiment on Twitter. The “point of this program is find more pathways for eligible Central American children to come here *legally* — so kids can be pre-screened by US authorities, and don’t pay gangs to smuggle them in dangerous trip across border,” she wrote. “Usually these are goals Republicans say they support.”
Paxton claims that in addition to allegedly abusing the CAM program, the Biden Administration has attempted to halt deportations, halt border wall construction, halt arrests and deportations of broad categories of unlawful migrants, and terminate the Remain-in-Mexico program since taking office a year ago.
Attorney General Paxton has filed lawsuits against Biden over all of these issues, his press release states.
Arkansas, Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, and Oklahoma are the co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit.