Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed for a temporary injunction to halt a non-governmental organization’s alleged criminal activity.
Annunciation House, a Catholic non-profit organization, has been accused of harboring illegal aliens and facilitating their evasion from law enforcement officers. According to a Wednesday press release, the attorney general’s office has obtained and reviewed sworn testimony that indicates the accusations are true.
“Any NGO facilitating the unlawful entry of illegal aliens into Texas is undermining the rule of law and potentially jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of our citizens,” Paxton said. “All NGOs who are complicit in Joe Biden’s illegal immigration catastrophe and think they are above the law should consider themselves on notice.”
This is the latest development in a legal feud between the NGO and Paxton that has stretched back to the beginning of this year.
Paxton filed a lawsuit against Annunciation House in February for stoking the border crisis by harboring illegal aliens, facilitating human smuggling, and operating a stash house.
Yet, since before the lawsuit was announced, the Consumer Protection Division of the attorney general’s office had been looking into Annunciation House’s public records. CPD demanded that the illegal alien shelter turn over a stash of documents and information ranging from January 22 to February 2024 within a 24-hour timeframe.
Instead of turning over the documents, Annunciation House filed a petition requesting declaratory judgment on whether or not this demand violated its constitutional rights.
Democrat District Judge Francisco Dominguez from El Paso ruled in March that Annunciation House did not have to turn over the requested information. However, he simultaneously denied the NGO’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order that would block the attorney general from further seeking to obtain the documents.
“Annunciation House initially claimed it had a religious right to refuse compliance with OAG’s investigation,” Paxton’s Wednesday press release also states. “But when asked under oath how his religion would be burdened by producing documents to OAG, Annunciation House’s Executive Director admitted that it would not. And when OAG sought to ascertain what religious practices even occur at Annunciation House, its senior staff gave nonsensical answers, including practicing ‘the seven commandments.’”
