Speaker 1: In late June, ten states, led by Texas and its
Speaker 1: Attorney General Ken Paxton, set a September five deadline for
Speaker 1: President Trump to say he would end the DOCCA deferred
Speaker 1: deportation program. If Trump did neck by then, Paxton said
Speaker 1: he'd see the administration in court. Yesterday, of course, the
Speaker 1: administration did indeed announced plans to phase out DACCA. That's
Speaker 1: the Obama policy that applies to eight hundred thousand people
Speaker 1: who entered the US illegally as children. With us to
Speaker 1: talk about the President's decision is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Speaker 1: General Paxton, thanks so much for joining us. When when
Speaker 1: we booked you yesterday, I thought I was going to
Speaker 1: ask you about what seemed to be a clean victory
Speaker 1: for you on this issue. But then last night the
Speaker 1: President uh put out a tweet and he seemed to
Speaker 1: suggest he might eventually reverse court. He tweeted that if
Speaker 1: Congress doesn't legalize DACA in six months, he will quote
Speaker 1: revisit this issue. Did you declare victory too soon? I
Speaker 1: don't think so. Uh. You know, well, I don't know
Speaker 1: what's going to happen six months down the road. It
Speaker 1: should be obviously Congress dealing with this. That's all we've
Speaker 1: ever made the argument on is this. Congress should deal
Speaker 1: with this. This is not something that is in the
Speaker 1: power of the presidency, and I think the president knows
Speaker 1: that he criticized this during his campaign as unconstitutional, So
Speaker 1: I I find it hard to believe that he would
Speaker 1: go back and do something that is outside of his
Speaker 1: area of responsibility or that he's given authority into the
Speaker 1: Constitution to do. General, you were the leader, as Greg mentioned,
Speaker 1: of a group of state attorneys general who gave Trump
Speaker 1: a deadline to end DACA. Do you have any concerns
Speaker 1: for these dreamers who played by the rules? Are country
Speaker 1: set for them? Absolutely? I think that Congress does need
Speaker 1: to deal with this issue and figure out what our
Speaker 1: policy going forward is. But I do it's always important
Speaker 1: how the process is done. You know, our founders didn't
Speaker 1: want a king, and they certainly didn't. That's why we
Speaker 1: set up That's why they set the constitution up the
Speaker 1: way they did. And it really doesn't matter how the
Speaker 1: process is done. And so I'm not opposed to Congress
Speaker 1: addressing this issue, but I am opposed to the President
Speaker 1: of States changing law and act acting outside of what
Speaker 1: what his constitutional duties are well, what specifically should be
Speaker 1: done with them? So you have eight hundred thousand people.
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly how many of them are in Texas,
Speaker 1: I know it's a large number. Right now. These are
Speaker 1: people who have lives, They have the right to hold
Speaker 1: down jobs, and they don't have to fear at least
Speaker 1: immediately being being deported. Uh what what sorts of rights
Speaker 1: should those people have? Well, so, look, the problem with
Speaker 1: the president President Obama doing this is that it's a
Speaker 1: house of cards. It's not built on anything done legally,
Speaker 1: and so it's it's just as easily undone as you
Speaker 1: saw yesterday. If if they're going to be granted certain
Speaker 1: status like Obama Wana, which was a green card and
Speaker 1: an ultimately citizenship um, that needs to be done congressionally
Speaker 1: through statue because that that that is what controls immigration law.
Speaker 1: So my suggestion is, hey, if if Congress wants to
Speaker 1: address this issue, and I think they should, then deal
Speaker 1: with it the right way and and change law. Have
Speaker 1: the debate. General leaders in the construction industry have been
Speaker 1: sounding the alarm across the country that there won't be
Speaker 1: enough American born workers to rebuild as quickly as needed.
Speaker 1: And the executive vice president of the Houston Contractors Association
Speaker 1: said that even before Harvey hit, contractors were grappling with
Speaker 1: a shortage of workers. And these jobs are pouring concrete
Speaker 1: or hot else asphalt. Immigrants really helped to rebuild New
Speaker 1: Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Do you have any fears that
Speaker 1: there won't be enough construction workers to rebuild Texas? So
Speaker 1: this is another reason that Congress. You know, Congress has
Speaker 1: six months to deal with this and to address this issue.
Speaker 1: This is another reason that Congress should look at that
Speaker 1: and figure out what does American need, What kind of
Speaker 1: immigration policy do we need, What kind of people do
Speaker 1: we want coming to this country, what would be most
Speaker 1: beneficial to the American people and to the American on
Speaker 1: me and and as those are legitimate questions to ask,
Speaker 1: and I think they need to be asked and then
Speaker 1: debated and then answered and voted on. So generalize. You know,
Speaker 1: Congress sometimes has trouble getting things done, agreeing on things.
Speaker 1: And and given the president's tweet last night about the
Speaker 1: possibility that he will revisit this issue, of Congress can't
Speaker 1: come up with an agreement in six months. If the
Speaker 1: President decides to reinstate, DOCCA, will you file a lawsuit
Speaker 1: at that point. Look, I'm not going to speculate on
Speaker 1: what he's gonna do or how he's gonna do it.
Speaker 1: My guess is that whatever he does, he'll do he'll
Speaker 1: be very thorough about making sure that it's legitimately and
Speaker 1: done under his authorities president and not made up laws.
Speaker 1: So I haven't seen this president do that what what
Speaker 1: Obama did, but and so don't. I don't expect him
Speaker 1: to change course now and violate his constitutional authority. He's
Speaker 1: He's done an amazing job following the law he's been
Speaker 1: in office, and I expect him to continue it. General.
Speaker 1: Just a question then about he signed more than forty
Speaker 1: executive orders, ranging from stopping immigrants from some Muslim countries
Speaker 1: from entering the US to stopping transgender people from serving
Speaker 1: in the military. We have about forty five seconds. Why
Speaker 1: isn't that wrong? If you feel that what President Obama
Speaker 1: did by executive order is wrong, well, fundamentally two different things.
Speaker 1: Obama we ended up suing the administration, UH twenty seven times.
Speaker 1: We sued the federal government and Trump we looked at
Speaker 1: his stuff. The travel band we actually supported, so the
Speaker 1: difference is that that Obama was making up law, which
Speaker 1: is what Congress is supposed to do. If you look
Speaker 1: at the travel band and other other executive orders, he's
Speaker 1: the president. President Trump was following specific outline statutes passed
Speaker 1: by Congress, and so he's acting within his authority by
Speaker 1: statute and by Constitution versus Obama just saying I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna work with cargners, I'm going to become carners. There's
Speaker 1: a big difference. I want to thank our guests. That
Speaker 1: was Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. He was a leader
Speaker 1: in challenging Sident Obama's defer deportation policies. Uh. President Trump
Speaker 1: inherited those and under threat of legal action from General Paxixton,
Speaker 1: President Trump yesterday announced that he would phase out the
Speaker 1: program known as DACA. Thanks very much, Attorney General Ken Paxton.