Judge denies Texas’ attempt to shut down El Paso migrant shelter

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An El Paso judge Tuesday denied Texas’ request to shut down a migrant shelter network that the state claimed was violating state law by sheltering people suspected of being undocumented immigrants.

Two weeks ago lawyers for the Texas Attorney General’s office argued to state district Judge Francisco Dominguez that Annunciation House in El Paso should be shut down for violating state laws prohibiting human smuggling and the operation of a stash house.

Dominguez ruled on Tuesday that the state’s claim “even if accepted as true, does not establish a violation of those provisions,” according to the order. He ruled that the state laws are preempted by federal law and “unenforceable.”

The judge additionally ruled that the state’s claim “violates the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act by substantially burdening Annunciation House’s free exercise of religion and failing to use the ‘least restrictive means’ of securing compliance with the law.”

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

“The volunteers of Annunciation House have a lot of work to do and they just continue to do it. They can just do it more at peace today than they did yesterday,” said Jerry Wesevich of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, who represents the shelter network. “There is some relief at knowing that the court agreed with their view of the law.”

Paxton’s office initially sought records from Annunciation House about the shelter’s clients in February. The office gave the shelter director, Ruben Garcia, a day to turn over the documents.

Garcia’s lawyer told the state its deadline did not give the shelter enough time and asked a judge to determine which documents shelter officials were legally allowed to release. Interpreting that as noncompliance, Paxton’s office filed a countersuit to shut down the shelter network.

Annunciation House opened its first shelter at a Catholic church nearly 50 years ago. Since then, it has helped hundreds of thousands of refugees who have traveled through El Paso, according to the shelter.

Paxton’s decision to sue Annunciation House came against the backdrop of a yearslong campaign by right-wing Christian groups and figures to paint immigrants as part of a Democratic plot to undermine American Christianity — despite a large percentage of migrants being Christian.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick echoed those claims in a speech at the Republican Party of Texas’ convention in May, telling delegates that immigrants were part of a plan by the “Marxist, socialist left” to “take God out of the country.” At the same convention, Paxton’s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, also claimed that Republicans were in the middle of a battle “against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Far-right Catholics have mobilized against groups such as Catholic Charities, branding it an “enemy of the people” and calling for the defunding of bishops who assist migrants. In a 2022 interview with the right-wing group Church Militant, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, claimed that Catholic Charities’ work was proof of “Satan controlling the church.”

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