A charity run shelter in El Paso, Texas stands accused of “planning and facilitating” illegal migrants to cross over the border from Mexico into the US, according to court documents.
The accusation of brazen illegality is part of a suit filed by the state Attorney General Ken Paxton against Annunciation House, a Catholic group who run a handful of shelters providing temporary housing to migrants who have illegally crossed into the US.
Paxton launched an investigation earlier this year into the charity, demanding the immediate release of documentation about its migrant clients, which it has refused to do.
“Annunciation House publicly depicts itself as a humble organization dedicated to ‘simply liv[ing] the Good News of the Gospel’ and providing ‘compassion and freedom’ to ‘outcast[s] or alien[s],'” papers filed in year in El Paso County Court say, adding: “The actual operations of Annunciation House are quite different.
“Annunciation House staff … made multiple admissions that they had assisted migrants in the past in the United States who had not surrendered to Border Patrol, had assisted persons in Mexico in crossing over to the United States in the past, and they intended to continue these activities in the future.
The shelters are run by Ruben Garcia, a Catholic activist who has been likened to a living saint for helping migrants in El Paso for nearly 50 years.
But Paxton alleges he his organization is involved in human smuggling and further accuses the group of “boasting” that it helps “migrants who avoided Border Patrol when crossing the Rio Grande, out of fear that agents would send them back to Mexico.”
“Annunciation House contracts with a local company once or twice a week to transport migrants in passenger vans in groups of approximately 15,” court papers say.
“Annunciation House knows that at least some of the aliens it provides services to are present illegally and are trying to avoid Border Patrol. Annunciation House’s transportation of those aliens presents a very significant likelihood of human smuggling.”
Annunciation House, which boasts that it has helped 500,000 migrants since its founding in 1978 does not accept government grants, relying exclusively on private donations. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Chitose Suzuki / Staff Photographer |
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued to close a Catholic charity in El Paso and has targeted 4 other nonprofits.
Gabriel Ribeiro arrived at Annunciation House — a Catholic charity facing political and legal battles for helping migrants — without clothes, food and a third of his right foot.
The 34-year-old Brazilian slipped while jumping aboard a moving cargo train outside El Paso, wrapped a spare shirt around his foot to slow the bleeding and waited on the side of a road for help. Recovering at an Annunciation House shelter three weeks later, Ribeiro said he would be sleeping on the streets or worse without the help.
“I wouldn’t even have the money to go back to Brazil, to buy a ticket,” Ribeiro said in Portuguese.
Following Catholic teachings that emphasize helping those in need, Annunciation House and its volunteers provide food, clothing and shelter to migrants without asking about their legal status.
The U.S. Border Patrol, with limited holding capacity, generally detains undocumented migrants for no more than three days and often relies on charities and nongovernmental organizations to house and transport migrants to other parts of the country. These private groups have drawn increasing fire from conservative media and politicians who see illegal immigration as a danger and demand the organizations be shut down, saying they encourage unauthorized border crossings.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined the fray in February, filing suit to shut down Annunciation House, saying it was taking advantage of “the chaos at the southern border” to facilitate illegal immigration.
“While the federal government perpetuates the lawlessness destroying this country, my office works day in and day out to hold these organizations responsible for worsening illegal immigration,” Paxton, a Republican who is the top lawyer for the state of Texas, said at the time.
Paxton has since sued three additional Texas charities that offer aid to migrants — Team Brownsville, FIEL Houston, and Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley — and opened an investigation into Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, an El Paso-based nonprofit that provides legal services to low-income migrants.
The attorney general’s office did not respond to three phone calls and two emailed questions seeking information about the lawsuits and the agency’s immigration-related investigations into nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs.
Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House since its first shelter opened in 1978, said volunteers are following the religious directive to take care of “the least among you.” Annunciation House has taken in over 1 million migrants since opening, Garcia said in court.
Migrants who arrive at Annunciation House deserve help and respect, Garcia said. “How can you not treat them as human beings?”
“Ask them, why did you leave your country?” he said, and the answers boil down to two responses: “I’m afraid. I can’t feed my family.” --->READ MORE HERE
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