Attorney General Ken Paxton targets El Paso nonprofit that offers legal services to migrants

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Attorney General Ken Paxton is targeting another nonprofit that works with immigrant clients, this time for alleged violations of consumer protection laws — a fresh argument that the El Paso-based organization says is an overreach of the state agency’s authority.

It is at least the fifth time this year that Paxton’s office has launched an investigation of an immigration-focused nonprofit in Texas.

On Sept. 4, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center said it received a civil investigative demand from Paxton’s office seeking information and communications related to a migrant sponsorship program that allows up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to legally migrate to the U.S. each month.

Instead of responding to those demands, Las Americas — represented by lawyers with the Texas Civil Rights Project — filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Wednesday seeking a preliminary injunction to stop Paxton’s investigation. The suit claims that the state is leveling “baseless” claims that have already affected the work of Las Americas, a 37-year-old organization that provides legal services to low-income migrants and advocates for immigrants’ rights.

“Las Americas seeks nothing more than to carry out its mission to help vulnerable immigrants in need,” states the suit, which also claims Paxton’s office is infringing on the group’s First Amendment rights because the communications are protected speech, as is the group’s advocacy for changing the U.S. immigration system.

Paxton’s office did not immediately respond Thursday morning to a request for comment.

The request to Las Americas for information is the latest state probe into organizations doing immigration-related work, including an attempt to shut down an El Paso-based migrant shelter network, Annunciation House, that regularly works with Las Americas; the two share founders.

Texas judges have largely rejected those efforts so far.

Separately, Paxton’s office joined 19 other attorneys general in filing a federal lawsuit in January 2023 that aims to stop the federal migrant sponsorship policy that is the subject of the Las Americas investigation.

President Joe Biden launched the program in December 2022 to discourage illegal crossings into the U.S. To be eligible under the program, an individual needs an American sponsor who will support them financially.

The policy has become a lightning rod among some Republican elected officials who have cast the initiative as an illegal mass-parole program.

More recently, the attorney general’s consumer protection division has targeted nonprofits whose missions are largely in opposition to his politics, an investigation by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica found. These organizations work on issues like immigration, gender-affirming medical care and fostering a diverse workplace.

Lawyers for Las Americas said Paxton’s probe into the nonprofit appears to be the first time the attorney general’s office has specifically cited the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act as the basis for an investigation of an immigration nonprofit.

The attorney general’s letter to Las Americas required a response by Friday, said the nonprofit’s lawyer, Aron Thorn of the Texas Civil Rights Project. Thorn dismissed the probe as retaliation against Las Americas because of the work it does, its close association to Annunciation House, which Paxton’s office has accused of human smuggling, and its standing as a plaintiff in two lawsuits the attorney general’s office opposes.

One of those lawsuits has for now paused a state law granting police the authority to arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally. The other challenged new federal restrictions on asylum, which Texas is trying to help defend alongside the Biden administration.

Las Americas Executive Director Marisa Limón Garza said in an interview that the state’s fishing for information had already resulted in procedure changes to further ensure sensitive information about clients is secure.

In the suit filed Wednesday, the group said it is considering even more stringent precautions and is also reconsidering its work in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, where the organization has helped migrants waiting to enter the country legally.

“People have a heightened sense of security about their own work,” Garza said. “The protection of clients is paramount.”

Paxton’s investigations follow a 2022 directive from Gov. Greg Abbott to investigate the role of non-governmental organizations “in planning and facilitating the illegal transportation of illegal immigrants across our borders.”

While some of the probes have become public, the extent of investigations being conducted by Paxton’s office is not clear. The office is fighting the Tribune’s open records request seeking the release of documents related to its investigations, arguing the records are excepted from disclosure because of protections surrounding pending litigation.