Red state AGs welcome Trump crackdown on illegal immigration after four years battling Biden

FIRST ON FOX: Twenty Republican attorneys general are prepared to bolster President-elect Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, according to a joint statement led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach shared with Fox News Digital. 

“The Biden Administration took dozens of executive actions that weakened border controls and sanctioned illegal immigration from around the world,” the letter states. 

“Republican attorneys general fought back by taking the Biden Administration to court for ending successful Trump Administration immigration policies and replacing them with new policies that violated the law and encouraged illegal immigration. The Republican attorneys general prevailed in virtually every one of these laws.”

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Kansas AG Kris Kobach led a joint statement supporting President-elect Trump’s plans to crack down on illegal immigration. (Getty Images)

The AGs say they’re ready to restore Trump’s “America First” policies from Trump’s first administration, particularly his “Remain in Mexico policy” and mass deportations.

“As we point out in this letter, the Remain in Mexico policy is something that’s found in federal statute, and it’s been in federal statute since 1996. President Trump was the first president who actually implemented that policy set by Congress,” Kobach told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

“President Trump has all the statutory tools he needs,” he added. “They are already in the federal code, and that’s what we’re saying too. As lawyers who have been trying to stop the Biden administration from violating the law, we are saying, ‘President Trump, you have our support, and you have a wide open runway ahead of you to renew the enforcement of our federal immigration laws.’”

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President-elect Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The attorneys general are also anticipating Trump will “fully rescind the unlawful DACA programs,” as he promised during his first term. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, introduced in 2012 by the Obama administration, permits illegal immigrants brought to the country as children — often referred to as “Dreamers” — to temporarily remain in the country.

In addition to Kobach, attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia and Tennessee signed the statement.

Republican attorneys general across the U.S. have been at the forefront of filing lawsuits against the Biden administration over the last four years. This month, Texas AG Ken Paxton filed his 103rd lawsuit against the outgoing administration over its energy efficiency standards for housing.  

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U.S. Border Patrol vehicles take away groups of vulnerable immigrants, including unaccompanied minors who had crossed over from Mexico, in May 2023 in El Paso, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

The Republicans have secured several legal wins. In 2021, a coalition led by then-Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry obtained a preliminary injunction against the administration’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land. In May 2024, Paxton achieved a significant win in a lawsuit alleging unlawful censorship by the administration, with a federal judge denying the government’s motion to dismiss and ordering expedited discovery. 

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And a federal judge recently vacated the administration’s Title IX rule, which had expanded protections against discrimination based on gender identity, after challenges from Republican-led states. 

“I think what the 20 or so attorneys general signing this statement is about what the law is and what the law requires,” Kobach said. “And … we are very grateful and expect that President Trump will return us to a country where the law is enforced and the strictures that Congress has put in place are observed.”