Missouri AG Eric Schmitt, critic of Biden migrant policy, to appear at southern border

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is set to appear Thursday at the U.S.-Mexico border with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, where the officials are expected to announce new action in response to President Joe Biden’s border policies.

The Republican attorneys general have successfully litigated to force the Biden administration to reinstate President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires asylum seekers to stay out of the United States while their claims are processed.

Schmitt and Paxton will hold a news conference in El Paso “to announce the next step in the fight against the Biden Administration’s failed border policies,” the Missouri attorney general’s office said.

A Schmitt spokesman didn’t immediately say whether Missouri is paying for the trip.

Schmitt, who is running for U.S. Senate in a packed primary field that features several hard-right candidates, has found courtroom success and attention with border issues. He has also filed other lawsuits with political overtones, including a challenge to mask mandates in Kansas City, St. Louis and in Missouri public schools.

Prior to their joint lawsuit over “Remain in Mexico,” Schmitt supported Paxton’s baseless legal challenge to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Schmitt and Paxton sued over “Remain in Mexico” in April and in August a federal court in northern Texas issued a nationwide injunction reversing Biden’s cancellation of the policy. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against a petition brought by the Biden administration to pause the lower court order from going into effect.

The Biden administration plans to reimpose the policy — officially called the “Migrant Protection Protocols” or MPP — in November pending cooperation from the Mexican government. About 70,000 migrants have come under the policy, which Biden suspended on his first day in office in January.

The Schmitt-Paxton news conference will take place 2:30 p.m. mountain time, or 3:30 p.m. central time.

McClatchyDC’s Bryan Lowry, The Star’s Jeanne Kuang and the Associated Press contributed reporting