AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton is throwing support to the president’s immigration order.
Paxton has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that indicates support for the U.S. Department of Justice in its defense of President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
One of the judges in the 9th Circuit has called for the en banc court to stay a decision, which was supported by three of its judges, that would have allowed a temporary restraining order to block parts of Trump’s order.
In the brief, Paxton showed that the immigration order was Trump’s lawful right as the president’s office has been given executive power over foreign affairs and national security.
The brief stated that “the state itself possesses no authority to set the terms and conditions of entry for aliens seeking to enter the United States, or to restrict the entry of such aliens for foreign-affairs, public-safety, or national-security reasons. Instead, the state relies on the federal Executive Branch to carry out that function, pursuant to the laws of Congress.”
According to 8 U.S. Code § 1182, "Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate," the brief states.
“The law makes it very clear that the president has discretion to protect the safety of the American people and our nation’s institutions with respect to who can come into this country,” Paxton was quoted as saying in a press release. “The safety of the American people and the security of our country are President Trump’s major responsibilities under the law.”