CPAC: Texas AG Paxton says US at 'war' with Mexico drug cartels

Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton said Friday that the U.S. government is at "war" with the Mexico drug cartels that have smuggled people and drugs across the U.S. southern border. 

"We are in a war with the cartels, with the Chinese importing fentanyl and our own president against the United States and our country and my state," Paxton said during a panel at the annual CPAC event outside of Washington, D.C., in suburban Maryland. 

Paxton and GOP Gov. Greg Abbott have launched an agressive state effort – known as "Operation Lone Star" – to keep out illegal migrants and contraband that includes razor wire and river buoys. 

However, Supreme Court last month said Texas cannot block federal agents from the border, effectively maintaining a long-running precedent that the federal government – not individual states – has authority to enforce border security.

"We have to have a new president because this is clearly not working," Paxton also said Saturday. 

As a border state, Texas has been highly impacted by the cartels' illegal activity, whether that be smuggling people into the U.S. or the trading of weapons and drugs. 

Reports from last year revealed that cartels had been using smartphones to facilitate their smuggling, making payments to drivers and manipulating the Customs and Border Protection app to get more people in.