Las Americas sues AG Paxton in response to his efforts to probe into ‘confidential client information’

EL PASO, Texas ( KTSM ) – The battle between groups assisting migrants and the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues.

This time, Paxton’s office is trying to probe another El Paso-based non-profit organization assisting migrants, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which provides legal services to immigrants and migrants.

“Ever since the attack on Annunciation House, I think organizations have been preparing for what this might look like. And so, for us, it was something that we thought could potentially happen, but it was certainly shocking to have it actually happen,” said Las Americas Executive Director Marisa Limon Garza.

Earlier this year, Paxton tried to shut down El Paso’s Annunciation House, a migrant shelter network, through a lawsuit that alleged the organization was “facilitating illegal border crossings” and “concealing illegally present aliens from law enforcement.”

The lawsuit was dismissed by an El Paso judge and Paxton has since then appealed the decision to the Texas Supreme Court.

Las Americas filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, Sept. 25, seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the “baseless investigation” led by Paxton’s office.

According to the lawsuit, Paxton served Las Americas a civil investigative demand (CID) earlier this month, seeking “confidential client information” from their client files.

“As a legal service provider, we have obligations ethically, and legally to our clients. And so, any kind of attack like this tries to undergird those efforts and destabilize them. That’s an incredibly dangerous move and something that we felt like we needed to stand up against. And that’s why we filed our own lawsuit,” Garza said.

KTSM reached out to Paxton’s office requesting for comment, which they did not immediately respond to Thursday afternoon.

The lawsuit argues this is just the latest attempt by Paxton to “target” and “harass” immigrant service organizations by making reference to four other instances where his office tried shutting down organizations like these in Texas, unsuccessfully.

Senior attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project Aron Thorn, who along with law firm Winston & Strawn is representing Las Americas, noted however that Las Americas is the first of these organizations that specifically renders legal services.

“The significance of hitting a bunch of lawyers with these bogus attempts is it really does a disservice to your clients. It prevents you from being able to speak openly and with confidence with your clients about very difficult subjects. There is a reason that there is attorney-client privilege,” said Thorn.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in El Paso and is pending a request for an immediate hearing.

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