EL PASO, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down Annunciation House, a large migrant shelter on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Republican attorney general claims the facility encourages migrants to enter the U.S. illegally.
Appearing on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night, Pope Francis vehemently disagreed with Paxton’s efforts, calling them “madness.”
“That is madness, sheer madness. To close the border and leave them there, that is madness,” Francis said. “Migrant has to be received. Thereafter, you see how you’re going to deal with them. Maybe you have to send them back. I don’t know. But each case ought to be considered humanely.”
“In a Gospel spirit of service and solidarity, we accompany the migrant, refugee, and economically vulnerable peoples of the border region through hospitality, advocacy, and education,” Annunciation House’s mission statement reads.
The Catholic charity operates a network of shelters.
Texas officials visited Annunciation House in early February demanding immediate access to review records — including medical and immigration documents — of migrants who received services at the shelter since 2022.
In March, a judge ruled in favor of the shelter, permitting it to shield records from Paxton.
The order by Judge Francisco X. Dominguez of El Paso kept Annunciation House — which for decades has been one of Texas’ largest border shelters for migrants — from having to immediately turn over internal documents that Paxton’s office demanded.
In May, Paxton applied for a temporary injunction against Annunciation House “to halt its systemic criminal conduct in Texas.”
“Any NGO (non-governmental organization) facilitating the unlawful entry of illegal aliens into Texas is undermining the rule of law and potentially jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of our citizens,” Paxton wrote in a news release. “All NGOs who are complicit in Joe Biden’s illegal immigration catastrophe and think they are above the law should consider themselves on notice.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.