Located just a few minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Annunciation House is a lay-run Catholic organization that offers migrants temporary shelter, food, and clothing and advocates on their behalf.
On Feb. 7 Paxton’s office ordered the nonprofit to immediately turn over various documents and records to examine whether it is engaged in unlawful activities. Annunciation House refused to comply with the order and denied any illegal activity.
In response, the attorney general’s office threatened to revoke Annunciation House’s license to operate and on Feb. 20 filed a lawsuit accusing the shelter of being “engaged in the operation of an illegal stash house by potentially allowing others to use its real estate to engage in human smuggling.”
Dominguez issued a temporary ruling in March in which he said that Paxton could not immediately revoke Annunciation House’s license to operate or force it to turn over documents.
In his ruling, Dominguez wrote that Paxton’s attempts to force Annunciation House to turn over its documents constituted harassment and overreach, amounting to an attempt on the part of the attorney general to manipulate the law “to advance his own personal beliefs or political agenda.”
A representative for Paxton’s office declined to comment.