Texas attorney general going after 3rd border nonprofit that helps migrants

McALLEN, Texas ( Border Report ) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked for a hearing to depose another non-governmental organization that assists migrants in South Texas.

Team Brownsville is the third NGO that Paxton has pursued for information in court.

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.

But so far he’s been unsuccessful.

Earlier this month, a judge in El Paso threw out a case where Paxton tried to sue and shut down the El Paso-based Annunciation House, which runs a network of migrant shelters. Paxton announced July 15 that he will appeal the dismissal of his lawsuit.

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

CCRGV has helped over half a million migrants since 2014 and operates a shelter in McAllen, Texas. The organization’s executive director, Sister Norma Pimentel, is known worldwide and is a confidant of Pope Francis.

The latest NGO to be targeted by Paxton is Team Brownsville Inc., a nonprofit that for years has assisted migrants who are legally released by federal border officials in Brownsville, Texas. Team Brownsville also takes food and supplies to asylum-seekers who are waiting in encampments and at shelters south of the border in Matamoros, Mexico.

Team Brownsville, like the others, is pushing back against Paxton’s office, which is trying to force its leaders to sit for a deposition to gather information for a possible lawsuit.

Paxton on Wednesday submitted documents requesting a Sept. 16 hearing in Austin, Texas, on the nonprofit’s Rule 202 petition to take deposition, according to court documents obtained by Border Report.

However, the Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit that is representing Team Brownsville, told Border Report on Thursday that a hearing date has not yet been set. Only a judge can set and approve a hearing date.

The hearing request was sent the same day that Paxton lost in his bid to depose Pimentel.

The Republican attorney general says he has good reason to question the NGOs on their rules and funds they receive to help asylum-seekers.

The “OAG has reasonable basis to believe that TBI (Team Brownsville Inc.) is one of the NGOs operating at the Texas-Mexico border and assisting immigrants seeking to enter the United States. In a response (to) a request from OAG, TBI’s Board President, Andrea Rudnik, explained that TBI performs work in Mexico and in the past has been part of ‘the collective effort of American and Mexican (non-governmental entities) to provide humanitarian support for waiting asylum seekers,'” Paxton wrote in documents filed July 8 in the 200th Judicial Court in Travis County.

According to documents filed by Paxton, his agency wants to question Rudnik on the following:

• Team Brownsville’s rules, practices, and procedures for providing assistance to other nongovernmental entities;
• The organizations rules, practices, and procedures “for providing assistance to immigrants, refugees, or aliens, including, but not limited to, documentation required for assistance.”
• Team Brownsville’s rules requests to local, state, and federal governmental entities for payment and/or reimbursements including funds from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, as well as applications and documentation submitted.

In a post on the organization’s Facebook page, Rudnik wrote that Team Brownsville on May 13 was served with papers from the attorney general to examine their organization. “We were asked to submit receipts, bank statements, invoices, and other items that detail our role in serving asylum seekers on both sides of the border. We were called upon to defend our work,” she posted.

“Here’s the truth. We have nothing to hide. We work, we purchase supplies, we’ve paid apartment rents for vulnerable families, we paid for sinks to prevent the spread of COVID, we paid for wood to build into pallets placed under tents in the encampment. We continue to pay for medical tests and treatment for people that are ill. We continue to pay for food and clothing , hygiene and baby supplies. We continue to prioritize the most vulnerable. We have stayed true to our mission laid out since our grassroot beginnings in 2018,” Rudnik wrote.

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

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