Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to shutter a Catholic nonprofit helping migrants in El Paso is intended to intimidate other church-based groups engaged in compassionate ministries throughout the state, immigration advocates say.
This week, Paxton filed suit against Annunciation House, demanding the historic Catholic organization provide client records and threatening to revoke the nonprofit’s registration to operate in Texas.
“The attorney general and governor, in previous comments, have attempted to make nonprofits afraid of doing this kind of work,” said Stephen Reeves, executive director of Fellowship Southwest. “I worry that some of our supporters in churches might feel that way, that they might question doing this work or supporting this work. So, I have to answer a lot more questions when this kind of thing happens.”
Paxton claims his suit is motivated by a desire to protect migrants and Americans from illegal activities he believes groups like Annunciation House are engaged in.
Ruben Garcia (Photo: PBS screencap)
The ministry was founded in 1978 by Ruben Garcia, a protégé of Mother Teresa, who still runs it today.
Paxton said: “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. 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.”
At play in the action is a new state law that increases minimum penalties for human smuggling — which is one of the attorney general’s claims against the Catholic nonprofit. The suit also alleges the organization hides asylum seekers who have evaded Border Patrol agents.
Paxton expressed frustration that Annunciation House denied his office’s unprecedented demand for ministry records and subsequently obtained a court order blocking the demand for records.
Historically, churches have been protected by First Amendment rights that prevent government interference in their work.
But Paxton — a member of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas — says his office “has complete and unlimited authority to examine business records to ensure that entities operating within the state are doing so lawfully. And the consequence of a flagrant failure to comply with such a request is that OAG may terminate the business’s right to operate in Texas. The OAG lawsuit seeks to revoke Annunciation House’s authorization to do business in Texas and asks the court to appoint a receiver to liquidate their assets.”
“If the work that Annunciation House conducts is illegal — so too is the work of our local hospitals, schools, and food banks.”
Last year, Paxton was impeached by the state House of Representatives on multiple counts including abuse of power but acquitted by the Senate under pressure from former U.S. President Donald Trump. Paxton currently faces trial on charges of committing securities fraud and for retaliating against whistleblowers in his government office.
He joins Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in taking a hardline stance against immigration, both casting their campaign as defiance against the Biden administration.
In the present case, Annunciation House and the Catholic Diocese of El Paso said they will not be intimidated by Paxton.
“The attorney general’s illegal, immoral and anti-faith position to shut down Annunciation House is unfounded,” the nonprofit said through its Facebook page. “It has stated that it considers it a crime for a Catholic organization to provide shelter to refugees.”
Bishop Mark Seitz
The statement added: “Annunciation House’s response to the stranger is no different from that of the schools who enroll children of refugees, the clinics and hospitals who care for the needs of refugees, and the churches, synagogues and mosques who welcome families to join in worship. If the work that Annunciation House conducts is illegal — so too is the work of our local hospitals, schools, and food banks.”
In a guest commentary for the nonprofit news organization El Paso Matters, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz said the Catholic Church is always willing to cooperate with authorities for the betterment of the community, but not at the expense of its gospel mandate to serve migrants and others in need.
“We will vigorously defend the freedom of people of faith and goodwill to put deeply held religious convictions into practice,” he said. “We will not be intimidated in our work to serve Jesus Christ in our sisters and brothers fleeing danger and seeking to keep their families together.”
The church also will stand by aid workers, volunteers and other nonprofits serving border communities in the face of inhumane immigration policies, Seitz said. “We will not surrender the identity of our borderlands, a place which chooses compassion over indifference, human fraternity over division, and radical hope and evangelical love over hatred and exclusion.”
“Texas’ lawsuit against a humanitarian organization acting on principles of faith is an attack … on religious freedom.”
Paxton’s move against Annunciation House also represents an assault on religious liberty, said Jennie Murray, president of the National Immigration Forum.
“Texas’ lawsuit against a humanitarian organization acting on principles of faith is an attack not just on compassion and human dignity, but also on religious freedom,” she said. “It stands in sharp contrast to the visionary leadership we need, leadership that points toward solutions that protect and prompt compassion in addition to security and order.”
Reeves added that targeting Annunciation House is in keeping with past statements by Gov. Abbott claiming Christian nonprofits are using their services to lure migrants into the United States. “That is not what I have seen, and that is not what our partners do,” he said.
It’s also frustrating to see politicians who are Christians make disparaging remarks about those who are called to serve the stranger, he added. “I’m sure that the Catholic folks who run Annunciation House feel that way because they are being persecuted for what they are doing.”
Mural outside Sacred Heart Catholic Church in El Paso, where migrants often gather for assistance. (Photo by Mark Wingfield/BNG)
Other elected officials from South Texas also blasted Paxton and declared him a threat to religious organizations.
Texas Sen. Cesar Blanco blasted Paxton: “These allegations against Annunciation House will have a chilling effect on the humanitarian assistance so badly needed along our border. Moreover, disrupting the work and services of Annunciation House and other NGOs will only exacerbate homelessness and deteriorate health and safety conditions in our communities.”
Fernando Garcia, executive director of Border Network for Human Rights, said: “We are not going to be deterred. We’re not going to be afraid. I know the governor is promising going after every organization and all of the organizations doing humanitarian work, but also the work that we’re doing. I mean, he’s taken up an irrational, racist, political decision criminalizing not only immigrants but also organizations that actually are providing help and support at the border.”
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said: Annunciation House is a Catholic charity where volunteers dedicate their time to serving the most poor and vulnerable among us. It’s no surprise that Ken Paxton is threatened by people who live to serve others. Texas Republicans are sinking to a new low with this lawsuit.”
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