EL PASO, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a Catholic nonprofit organization that provides shelter to migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso after the organization did not immediately turn over client records. Paxton is accusing the organization of harboring and transporting migrants across the border.

What You Need To Know

  • Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a Catholic nonprofit organization that provides shelter to migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso after the organization did not turn over client records

  • The legal back-and-forth began on Feb. 7, when the Office of the Attorney General demanded that the nonprofit, Annunciation House, provide detailed records of its undocumented clients to the attorney general’s office in one day

  • Annunciation House asked for an extension to that demand, which the attorney general’s office denied. In response, Annunciation House sued and filed a restraining order against the attorney general’s office, requesting a court rule asking which documents it was legally required to provide

  • According to its website, Annunciation House has served migrants, refugees and the “economically vulnerable” on the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez since 1978. In a statement, Paxton accused the nonprofit of “facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house”

The legal back-and-forth began on Feb. 7, when the Office of the Attorney General demanded that the nonprofit, Annunciation House, provide detailed records to the attorney general’s office in one day.

According to The Texas Tribune, the documents requested include client information, referrals to legal service made on behalf of the organization and all applications to the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, a federal fund for organizations that provide services to the homeless.

Annunciation House asked for an extension to that demand, which the attorney general’s office denied. In response, Annunciation House sued and filed a restraining order against the attorney general’s office, requesting a court rule asking which documents it was legally required to provide.

According to its website, Annunciation House has served migrants, refugees and the “economically vulnerable” on the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez since 1978. The organization offers “Border Awareness Experience” tours to the public to raise awareness about the migrant experience and the socioeconomic state of the border community.

The attorney general’s office is now suing Annunciation House for failing to provide the documents and seeks to revoke the organization’s license to operate. This would effectively shut down the volunteer-run organization after 46 years.

In a statement, Paxton accused the nonprofit of “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 wrote. “While the federal government perpetuates the lawlessness destroying this country, my office works day in and day out to hold these organizations responsible for worsening illegal immigration.”

The Office of the Attorney General filed the lawsuit on Tuesday.

In a Feb. 20 statement, Annunciation House denounced the move from Paxton.

“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,” the organization wrote. “The Attorney General’s illegal, immoral and anti-faith position to shut down Annunciation House is unfounded.”

Annunciation House will hold a press conference on Friday at 11 a.m. in El Paso to discuss the lawsuit.

Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, released a statement in support of Annunciation House.

“The accusations being made by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are outrageous, and the tactics he employed — explicitly and illegally attempting to shutter a local NGO — are reminiscent of the abuses of power employed during some of our darkest periods in American history. It appears that AG Paxton is targeting Catholic and faith-based organizations and individuals who may have contact with suspected undocumented people, using the playbook from a racist, xenophobic past.”

Escobar went on to criticize Gov. Greg Abbott for busing migrants to sanctuary cities across the country through Operation Lone Star. Escobar says she asked the DOJ to investigate Paxton and Abbott's efforts to deter migrants from entering the U.S.

“Last week I met with Attorney General Merrick Garland in Washington and alerted him to the tactics being used in El Paso by both AG Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott, and I have asked the Department of Justice to investigate what I believe are egregious civil rights violations,” Escobar said.

A temporary injunction hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday at 2 p.m. A motion for leave hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for Feb. 28.