Quote:Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday on "Fox & Friends" that a push by three Democrats running for office in the state to decriminalize illegal entry could cost lives.

Paxton said that the issue is "a little scary" and that simply advocating for more open borders could draw more people to cross illegally.

"The reality is we already struggle with this," he said. "It's going to cost lives if we go down this path."

Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke, congressional candidate Veronica Escobar and gubernatorial candidate Lupe Valdez have "all called for some form of decriminalization," according to the Huffington Post.

"These asylum-seekers -- penniless, at wit’s end, after surviving three weeks on the road, very often with their children -- then attempt to do what I think any human would do, which is to request asylum in between the ports of entry. We should not criminalize that," O’Rourke said.

The news outlet also noted that Valdez, a former Customs agent, said that entering the country undocumented shouldn't be a "criminal issue.”

"We really have to evaluate the way that we’ve criminalized migration," Escobar also reportedly said.

Paxton said that the trio of Democrats want to rid the state of the tools they have to effectively enforce border laws, adding that it's "absolutely crazy."

"[It's] not in the best interest of the people of Texas, putting them at great risk."

(08-26-2018 02:25 PM)bullet Wrote:  So should shoplifting and bank robbery be decriminalized if you are poor?

(08-26-2018 02:52 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  LOL at Ken Paxton...Isn't he under indictment? https://www.politifact.com/texas/article/2018/jul/09/ken-paxton-not-only-nation-indicted-official-state/

(08-26-2018 05:44 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  Two proud El Pasoans, Escobar and O'Rourke. Now you see what I have to argue with in this fair city. Both wackos. I can't wait to go vote against them. They're not capable to run for dog catchers.