An El Paso nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants and migrants has filed a lawsuit that attempts to block an investigation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has increasingly targeted groups on the border that assist people seeking to enter the United States.
The federal lawsuit seeks to block Paxton’s efforts to obtain records from the El Paso-based Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center on the Biden administration’s efforts to provide legal immigration pathways to people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
“Las Americas has been serving the communities of El Paso, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez for over 37 years. Whether it’s assisting immigrant families and individuals seeking immigration relief and pathways, or reuniting a mother who was separated from her 3-year-old because of cruel anti-immigrant policies, we accompany the most vulnerable on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. The attorney general’s attack against this work is troubling,” Marisa Limón Garza, executive director of Las Americas, said in a statement Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in El Paso.
“The Attorney General has served a Civil Investigative Demand (“CID”) on Las Americas, inquiring into and seeking production of information contained in client files and relating directly to the legal services Las Americas provides to its clients. Las Americas seeks nothing more than to carry out its mission to help vulnerable immigrants in need, and this baseless investigation threatens its ability to deliver these already limited legal services,” the lawsuit states.
Paxton and the Texas Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from El Paso Matters.
Paxton sued the Biden administration last month over its “parole in place” efforts to create more legal pathways for immigration as the administration also tightened the availability of asylum. Biden’s efforts have led to huge decreases in the number of people crossing the border illegally, while also allowing more than 1 million people to temporarily enter the country legally.
The Department of Homeland Security, which administers the parole program, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from El Paso Matters.
Las Americas is the latest border nonprofit organization targeted by Paxton, who has said he believes such agencies promote illegal immigration.
Paxton’s effort began in February, when his investigators demanded that Annunciation House – which has provided shelter and other services to border crossers for more than 40 years – produce records or face loss of its right to do business in El Paso.
That effort was blocked in July by Judge Francisco Dominguez of the 205th District Court in El Paso, who called Paxton’s actions “outrageous and intolerable.” Paxton has appealed Dominguez’s ruling to the Texas Supreme Court.
Paxton’s representatives mentioned Las Americas’ activities several times in a hearing on Paxton’s Annunciation House efforts.
The Attorney General’s Office also has sought records from Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, which provides services to immigrants and migrants in South Texas.
Las Americas was founded in 1987 by Ruben Garcia and other co-founders of Annunciation House to provide legal services to Central American migrants fleeing civil wars.
The agency represented some of the earliest families that were separated by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy in 2017 and 2018.
Las Americas has sued the state of Texas and the Biden administration over border enforcement policies.
The nonprofit’s federal lawsuit said the Texas Attorney General’s Office served them with a civil investigative demand on Sept. 4, citing “an investigation regarding ‘fraudulent and deceptive legal representations and services.’”
The attorney general demanded that Las Americas turn over communications with federal immigration agencies regarding the Biden administration’s parole programs that provide legal immigration opportunities to people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The demand also asked for Las Americas to provide documents on the assistance it provided to people seeking parole.
The deadline for compliance was Friday, Sept. 27, the lawsuit said.
As a result of the attorney general’s action, Las Americas is now telling clients that it cannot guarantee that their communications with lawyers will be kept confidential, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit says the Attorney General’s Office is violating Las Americas’ First Amendment rights and asks the court to block Paxton from seeking the nonprofit’s records. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama of El Paso.
“We’re witnessing a disturbing pattern in Texas in which immigrant legal services and voting rights are under a coordinated siege by the Attorney General under the guise of protecting voter integrity. These actions are perpetuating a dangerous anti-immigrant narrative that is having a direct impact on Latino communities across our state ahead of a federal election cycle, threatening the power of our collective voice as Texans,” said Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, which is representing Las Americas in the lawsuit.
Garza, a Democrat, lost to Republican Paxton in the 2022 election for Texas attorney general.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The post Las Americas sues Ken Paxton to block efforts to obtain records on Biden administration parole policies appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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