The government made the "wrong argument" in the case of a pregnant illegal immigrant who sought an abortion – and should have stressed the teen had no constitutional right to the procedure, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton said Tuesday.
In remarks on "The Joe Pags Show" on Newsmax TV, Paxton said instead the Department of Justice argued it did not want to facilitate an abortion, but a federal appeals panel decided the government could not block the 17-year-old from having it done.
"We think the Department of Justice made a mistake on that. . . . It's unfortunate the wrong argument was made," he said.
"Unless there is a substantial connection to the country, there aren't constitutional rights for people that aren't citizens," he added. "It was a very narrow decision, [but] because the Department of Justice didn't argue the right thing, there is this possibility that you open the door for all kinds of constitutional rights even beyond abortion."
Important: Newsmax TV is available on DirecTV Ch. 349, U-Verse 1220, and FiOS 615. If your cable operator does not have Newsmax TV just call and ask them to put us on – Call toll-free 1-844-500-6397 and we will connect you right away to your cable operator!
For more places to Find Newsmax TV – Click Here Now
He also criticized the DOJ for not appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.
"We're pretty sure we could have gotten an appeal and a stay to argue in front of the court, it just never happened," he said, noting Texas filed an amicus brief in the case that did make the constitutional argument.
Paxton said, however, the fight is not over.
"Ultimately this is going to take us back into the question: Does Roe v. Wade apply to noncitizens that just want to come here and get an abortion," he said. "We're going to be in that fight, and we're going to have it again. I'll guarantee you we're going to be in this fight again."
On the issue of illegal immigration, Paxton maintained the numbers of those illegally crossing the U.S. border with Mexico has dropped because "they actually know that they're going to get sent back, which is something they weren't afraid of before."
Paxton charged border agents "weren't allowed to do their job" under the Obama administration — but now say "'we can do our job' and that's why you're seeing the numbers go down."
"It's just a simple matter of letting them do their job," he said.