Texas had to take action against the Pentagon's vaccine mandate for members of the National Guard because the rule is another way the Biden administration has ignored federal law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Newsmax.
''It's similar to every lawsuit that we have, I think we're at 25 lawsuits, with the Biden administration,'' said Paxton, a Republican, on Wednesday's ''National Report.'' ''This is one of those actions that we had to take because we want to protect our Texas National Guard.''
The administration, he added, ''had no authority to do this, and yet tries to force vaccines on these men and women who are serving our country and who are protecting our border, and they have to choose between their job and their health.''
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said Tuesday he is suing the Biden administration to block the Pentagon's vaccine mandate for the Texas National Guard, on claims that the federal order contradicts his own rules against punishing guard members who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Paxton said Wednesday that the state has not heard back from the White House about the latest lawsuit, but he expects a response in a few days.
''They'll oppose it,'' he said. ''I think we've been successful in beating them in court over 90% of the time, so I anticipate this will go the same way.''
In recent weeks, Texas won a challenge against the mandate requiring workers in the Head Start program being vaccinated and masked for participating children, he pointed out.
''There's nothing in state and federal law that allows the Biden administration to do this, and so we sued them and we get an injunction just a couple days ago, stopping the Biden administration from forcing upon these people a very significant choice between their jobs and their health,'' Paxton said.
''These kids are now protected and their parents got to make [the] choice, as opposed to Joe Biden or his administration,'' he continued.
Texas is also doing all it can to fight back against the administration's immigration policies, as it is ''clear that they're ignoring federal law and they are ignoring court orders,'' Paxton continued.
''The 'Remain in Mexico' program is not being enforced. … People are crossing the border. That is not enforcing federal law and so they're ignoring the law, and they're allowing people to cross the border with COVID and with drugs, and that's definitely harmful to the American people, not just Texas,'' he said.
The attorney general said he's been worried about the increases in people and drugs crossing the border ''from the moment that Joe Biden came into office and said he wasn't going to deport people.''
But through the administration's actions, ''we're inviting the cartels and the Chinese to continue to push this stuff through our country,'' Paxton said. ''And the reality is the administration knows that people are going to die.''
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.