Paxton Sues Harris County

Harris County is being sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for funding initiatives that provide illegal individuals with access to legal assistance. Amid an increase in federal enforcement, the county recently donated $1.3 million to organizations that offer immigration legal assistance. 

The scheme, according to Paxton, is “evil and wicked.” Houston’s home county established the Immigrant Legal Services Fund program in 2020 and last month approved an additional $1.3 million to maintain it. Five groups that assist individuals facing deportation in obtaining legal representation get funding from the initiative. Five groups receive county funds through the program: BakerRipley, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Service, Justice for All Immigrants, KIND, Inc., and the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project.

 As federal and state immigration enforcement has intensified under President Donald Trump, the Harris County Jail tops the country in ICE detainers, a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to hold a person for deportation. The Harris County District Court received the lawsuit. The program is “perfectly legal,” according to a statement from Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, and his office will defend it in court. 

In the case, Paxton claims that these initiatives “serve no public purpose and instead constitute unconstitutional grants of public funds to private entities to subsidize individual deportation defenses.” He is requesting that the judge prevent Harris County from giving money to these groups right away and prohibit them from doing so going forward.