Judge denies Texas attorney general’s efforts to depose head of migrant advocacy group

McALLEN, Texas ( Border Report ) — A judge in Austin has dismissed requests by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to depose the leader of an non-governmental organization that helps migrants in the South Texas border town of Brownsville.

This is the fourth time this summer that a court in Texas has refused to uphold Paxton’s targeting of nonprofits that assist migrants who are legally released by the Department of Homeland Security.

Paxton claims they could be violating human trafficking laws and wants more information for an investigation..

On Thursday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, of the 459th Civil District Court in Travis County, denied a Rule 202 petition by Paxton to investigate Team Brownsville, an NGO that provides food, clothing, toiletries and volunteers at a city respite shelter that helps undocumented migrants after they are released by federal officials.

“We applaud Judge Gamble for yesterday’s ruling. Our goal has always been to help our most vulnerable neighbors, people who have traveled to the border with very little,” Andrea Rudnik, president of Team Brownsville, said in a statement released Friday. “Brownsville has always been a community that helps people in times of crisis, organizations like us and the others who have been targeted fill a gap in services that are needed for people who are often forgotten about. We remain committed to that mission.”

Aron Thorn, senior staff lawyer for the Beyond Borders Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), which represented Team Brownsville in court, called it a “baseless petition.”

We are “proud to represent Team Brownsville. Organizations like Team Brownsville provide essential services to people seeking safety at the border,” Thorn said in a statement. “They fill a critical need in Texas border communities that are unable to care for immigrants. Any effort to end their services is an attack on that very care.”

This was the fourth failed attempt by Paxton’s agency to target migrant centers that assist undocumented persons who enter the Texas-Mexico border. He says he wants to investigate potential human trafficking violations.

In early July, a judge in El Paso threw out a case in which Paxton tried to sue and shut down Annunciation House , a network of migrant shelters in the Sun City.

On July 24, a state judge in Hidalgo County ruled that Paxton does not have the authority to order leaders of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley to sit for a sworn deposition.

It was around that same time that Paxton asked for a hearing in Austin on the Rule 202 petition to take a deposition from Rudnik and leaders of Team Brownsville.

According to the Texas-Tribune, a judge in Houston last week refused to grant a temporary injunction request by Paxton to shut down the Houston immigrant rights organization Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (FIEL), which is the first NGO that Paxton went after that is not physically located on the border.

Paxton has sued the Houston NGO on allegations that violated federal rules that govern nonprofits’ political involvement.

Civil rights organizations see this as a pattern of targeting nonprofits that help vulnerable populations and are praising Thursday’s ruling and other recent court rulings.

The “ruling is a powerful reminder of the strength that we, the people, possess in protecting civil rights for our communities. Organizations like Team Brownsville exemplify the critical need for resources in underfunded regions in our state. TCRP is proud to stand alongside Team Brownsville as we continue to fight for the essential services they provide and stand up for the rights of nonprofits to continue their critical work,” TCRP President Rochelle Garza said.

Paxton alleges that the NGOs are illegally helping migrants at the border and wants their testimony as the office gathers evidence for potential cases against the nonprofits. His office has alleged the nonprofits could be illegally trafficking migrants into the United States.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.

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