Texas Attorney Ken Paxton speaks at a 2024 right-wing hoedown in Phoenix, Arizona. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore
Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Bexar County on Wednesday in a bid to shut down its program that funds immigrant legal aid.
Late last year, a judge rejected a similar legal case that Paxton — a Republican culture warrior now running for U.S. Senate — filed against Harris County.
Although Bexar County launched its Immigration Legal Services Fund in 2024, Paxton’s suit specifically challenges a December voter by county commissioners to approve an additional $566,000 in funding for the program.
“Leftists in Bexar County have no authority to use taxpayer dollars to fund their radical, criminal-loving agenda,” Paxton said in an emailed statement. “State funds cannot underwrite deportation-defense services for individuals unlawfully present in the country. This use of hardworking Texans’ dollars is a flagrant violation of state law and the Texas Constitution.”
The funding Bexar County Commissioners Court approved in December goes to American Gateways, a nonprofit providing free or low-cost immigration legal services to low-income immigrants, especially refugees, families, children and human-trafficking victims.
When the court voted 4-1 to approve the funding, Democratic Precinct 1 County Commissioner Rebeca Clay Flores told American Gateways she supported its struggle for human rights, according to Texas Public Radio.
“[I] am so glad that we have organizations like you all to continue to do that,” the commissioner said. “And that we don’t micromanage and allow you to make decisions, knowing that it’s not supporting violent criminals, but indeed children and families.”
When Paxton sued Harris County last year, he called its legal-aid program unconstitutional, not to mention “evil and wicked.”
A judge rejected the claim.
In a statement to Houston Public Radio, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said ruling was a “clear defeat” that highlighted the AG’s political grandstanding.
“The court saw this lawsuit for exactly what it was: a cheap political stunt designed to score headlines,” Menefee said. “Harris County will not be intimidated or pushed around by state officials who are more interested in pandering than governing.”
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