Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Tuesday that he has filed a lawsuit against a nongovernmental organization to revoke its operations authorization for allegedly facilitating unlawful migration.
The lawsuit was filed against Annunciation House, a Catholic organization in El Paso that “operates several houses of hospitality” for the “migrant, refugee, and economically vulnerable peoples of the border region.”
A news release from the Office of the Attorney General claims that it requested documents from the organization pertaining to potential legal violations but was denied access to the records.
This letter states that the documents were necessary because the OAG has begun an “investigation into the organization, conduct, and management of Annunciation House.”
The OAG further alleges that Annunciation House has broken the law by “facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house.”
In the lawsuit, Paxton accuses the organization of “openly and flagrantly violating many provisions of law in a systemic fashion,” further stating that “actual operations of Annunciation House appear to be quite different” than what is depicted on its website.
The attorney general has stated that he is seeking to revoke any authorization Annunciation House is granted to perform operations in Texas due to allegedly facilitating unlawful migration, along with the refusal to submit the requested documents.
Paxton said in the release that he will not stand for organizations that facilitate unlawful migration, and his office “works day in and day out to hold these organizations responsible for worsening illegal immigration.”
“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,” added the attorney general.
Annunciation House responded to the allegations and claimed that the attorney general has taken an “illegal, immoral and anti-faith position,” adding that the organization has “provided hospitality to hundreds of thousands of refugees for over forty-six years.”
“It is a work recognized by the Catholic Church and is listed in the National Catholic Directory. Annunciation House has done this work of accompaniment out of the scriptural and Gospel mandate to welcome the stranger,” continued the organization in a news release.
“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.”