Texas AG says Biden admin's recent lawsuits show they want 'control,' 'don't like Texans'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference on July 11, 2021 in Dallas, Texas.  (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

FIRST ON FOX: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Fox News that the Biden administration's recent lawsuits against the state showed a dislike for Texans and an increase in control from the federal government. 

"It's pretty clear that they don't like Texas, that they don't like Texans," Paxton said in an exclusive interview Monday. On allegations of racial animus, Paxton said: "They can tell all the fairy tales they want, but they have to prove things like that. I think it sounds maybe like a good story because they make it up. But it's just not true."

His comments came just after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit alleging that Texas' redistricting plan suppressed Black and Latino votes in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In recent months, the administration also sued the state over its controversial abortion law and challenged another state law on voting.

BIDEN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES TEXAS OVER REDISTRICTING MAPS

Joe Biden delivers remarks about White nationalism during a campaign press conference on Aug. 7, 2019, in Burlington, Iowa. (Tom Brenner/Getty Images)

He added that the lawsuit was part of a broader attempt to impose federal control and secure Democratic electoral victories. 

Paxton told Fox News, "[The Biden administration] want to control the legislature, they want to control the voting in Texas, they want to control how our districts are drawn, they want to control our Medicaid money. They want to control our borders, but yet they don't do their job."

Attorney General Merrick Garland appears before the House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Oct. 21. (Michael Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS)

"They're all about telling us what to do and whether we can get vaccinated, whether we can have a job, whether our elected representatives can pass a bill that protects the unborn," continued Paxton.

TEXAS AG FIRES BACK AT BIDEN ADMIN'S ‘ABSURD LAWSUIT’ OVER REDISTRICTING

Paxton went on to say he thought the administration wanted "control over Republican states. They want to turn them into Democratic states, and they'll do it any way possible – whether it's doing damage to our economy by allowing illegals to come in that potentially cause crime and transport fentanyl, whether it's the transmission of COVID from across the border. They're all about allowing things and promoting things that hurt Republican states."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton during the Conservative Political Action Conference on July 11, 2021, in Dallas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

DOJ did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

Announced Monday, DOJ's lawsuit alleges that the state legislature "eliminated Latino electoral opportunities in the State House plan through manipulation or outright elimination of districts where Latino communities previously had elected their preferred candidates."

DOJ pointed to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race. DOJ's lawsuit alleges Texas' "lengthy history of discrimination in redistricting has continued unabated into the 21st century, as the Supreme Court recognized when holding that the state’s 2003 congressional redistricting plan ‘undermined the progress of a racial group that has been subject to significant voting-related discrimination.’"

That quote came from a previous Texas redistricting case before the Supreme Court in 2006, League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"I think their claims are absolutely false," Paxton told Fox News. "I think that will be shown in court. The Obama administration claimed the exact same thing, and we ended up winning."

In November, Paxton's state went head-to-head with Biden's DOJ when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments over its recently enacted abortion law. 

When DOJ announced its lawsuit in September, Attorney General Merrick Garland argued the federal government "has the authority and responsibility to ensure that no state can deprive individuals of their constitutional rights through a legislative scheme specifically designed to prevent the vindication of those rights."