Texas Republicans have resorted to cruel and extreme policies as they seek to stem the number of migrants and refugees crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, state Attorney General Ken Paxton has set his sights on another target, filing a lawsuit to shut down a Catholic nonprofit that serves migrants after it refused to release records to his office.
First, some background: On Feb. 7, Paxton’s office demanded that Annunciation House, which provides shelter and education to migrants in El Paso, hand over “a broad swath of records” about its clients within a day, the organization said. According to The Texas Tribune, the organization asked for an extension to determine what it was legally required to do, but the request was denied. Annunciation House then sued Texas and filed a restraining order against the attorney general to seek relief from his records request.
The attorney general also made the outrageous claim that the organization could be “facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house.”
In response, Paxton filed a lawsuit against Annunciation House to “revoke their registration to operate in Texas,” his office said in a news release Tuesday. The attorney general also made the outrageous claim that the organization could be “facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house.”
“The chaos at the southern border has created an environment where NGOs, funded with taxpayer money from the Biden Administration, facilitate astonishing horrors including human smuggling,” Paxton said in the news release.
Annunciation House has pushed back hard, calling Paxton’s stance an “illegal, immoral and anti-faith position” and adding in a statement Wednesday: “The AG has now made explicit that its real goal is not records but to shut down the organization. It has stated that it considers it a crime for a Catholic organization to provide shelter to refugees.”
Texas Democrats have also criticized the attorney general. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar called Paxton’s efforts to shutter the organization “reminiscent of the abuses of power employed during some of our darkest periods in American history,” and Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman, sounded his support as well.
Texas Republicans are no stranger to taking draconian measures at the border. The crusade has come at great cost to taxpayers — Gov. Greg Abbott’s stunt of busing migrants to blue cities across the country has cost the state more than $148 million, according to records obtained by The Texas Newsroom.
But Paxton’s targeting of Annunciation House, which has for decades provided shelter, education and advocacy help to El Paso's migrant and refugee population, may be a new low.