Texas AG Ken Paxton sues county over program that helps migrants obtain lawyers
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Harris County, home to Houston, for using county funds for programs that help immigrants facing deportation access legal support.
Harris County established the Immigrant Legal Services Fund program in 2020, sending money to five organizations that help immigrants facing deportation find attorneys.
The municipality made an allocation last month. additional $1.3 million to support the program.
Paxton said in a statement that the program was “evil and treacherous” and also unconstitutional.
TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON SUES LATIN VOTERS FOR ALLEGEDLY REGISTERING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Harris County for using county funds for programs that help immigrants facing deportation gain access to lawyers. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
“To prevent illegals from being deported by the Trump Administration, we must stop the left-wing radicals who are robbing Texans,” Paxton said. “Beyond being clearly unconstitutional, this is evil and evil. Millions and millions of illegals invaded America during the last administration, and they need to be sent back to where they came from.”
This is one of several recent lawsuits Paxton has filed targeting organizations that support immigrants.
Democratic Harris County District Attorney Christian Menefee rebuked Paxton’s latest lawsuit, confirming that the program was “perfectly legal” and that his office would fight the case in court.
“This case is a cheap political stunt,” he said in a statement. “At a time when the president is unleashing ICE agents to terrorize immigrant neighborhoods, deport U.S. citizens, and break the law, it is shameful that Republican state officials are joining in rather than defending Texans.”
Harris County Jail leads the nation in ICE detainees. (Getty Images)
Harris County Jail leads the nation in ICE detainees as federal and state officials continue to pursue President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, according to The Texas Tribune.
The county was the largest county in the nation without a program to help immigrants access legal counsel before launching the Immigrant Legal Services Fund in 2020, The Texas Tribune noted. The district adopted the program on a party line vote.
“If you have a family at a deportation hearing and they don’t have a lawyer, they are deported at a much higher rate of 90% compared to 5% when they do have a lawyer,” Lina Hidalgo, the district judge who recommended the program, said at the time, according to the Houston Chronicle.
FIRST ON FOX: TEXAS’ KEN PAXTON APPROVES HIS CANDIDATE FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL
Harris County District Attorney Christian Menefee called the case a “cheap political stunt.” (Getty Images)
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION
In the lawsuit, Paxton claims the programs “serve no public purpose and instead constitute an unconstitutional donation of public funds to private entities to support individual deportation defenses.” He asked the court to block the county from distributing funds to these organizations and to prohibit sending money to these groups in the future.
According to the Houston Chronicle, last month, after voting to allocate funds to the program, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis said the funds were needed due to the increase in raids targeting immigrants.
“Access to legal representation not only improves case outcomes, it also helps families stay together,” he said in a statement. “In a county as diverse as ours, local government must take action to protect safety, justice and the people we serve.”
