Both currently receive significant funding from the city of Austin.<\/p>\n
American Gateways\u2019 website says<\/a> that it has \u201cserved the Central Texas immigrant community since 1987\u201d and began as a group of volunteers to serve the increase of refugees fleeing from war in Central America. The organization has since \u201cgrown to provide a broad range of immigration legal services to low-income individuals and families throughout the region.\u201d<\/p>\n The Austin City Council is seeking to \u201cauthorize negotiation and execution\u201d agreements with American Gateways that provide \u201clegal pro se assistance for individuals representing themselves in court residing in Austin and Travis County\u201d and \u201clegal services.\u201d This entails extending agreements for both pro se assistance and legal services by 12 months and providing additional funding.<\/p>\n Both agreements are currently set to end September 30, 2027.<\/p>\n Between the two programs, the proposed increase totals more than $499,000, bringing the total \u201cnot to exceed\u201d funding amount to more than $4 million.<\/p>\n Funding is provided for the programs through the Austin Public Health budget.<\/p>\n The organization\u2019s Pro Se Assistance Program offers<\/a> both in-court services at San Antonio\u2019s Immigration Court and free monthly legal clinics, which cover topics such as navigating legal defenses against deportation, \u201cinformation on post-release reporting requirements and participation in the Alternatives-to-Detention program,\u201d and how to prepare for hearings.<\/p>\n American Gateways also joined a case challenging Texas\u2019 Senate Bill 4 from 2023, which creates<\/a> state-level criminal penalties for illegal entry into Texas and gives state and local law enforcement a direct role in immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n Following the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals\u2019 decision to vacate a lower court injunction that had blocked the law, American Gateways\u2019 co-executive director, Edna Yang, made a statement along with other plaintiffs against the court\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are alarmed by the Fifth Circuit\u2019s decision to allow S.B. 4 to move forward, leaving immigrant families across Texas to live in fear of a law that a prior panel rightly found unconstitutional,\u201d said<\/a> Yang \u201cThis ruling is a setback, not the final word, and we remain committed to fighting this dangerous law at every turn.\u201d<\/p>\n City council members are also considering approving additional funding and a 12-month agreement extension with Catholic Charities of Central Texas to \u201cexpand legal and counseling services\u201d and \u201cprovide legal filing fee assistance in Austin and Travis County.\u201d<\/p>\n Both agreements are set to end September 30, 2027.<\/p>\n Between the two programs, the council is proposing an increase in funding of more than $315,000, bringing the total \u201cnot to exceed\u201d funding amount to more than $2.6 million.<\/p>\n Catholic Charities, founded in 1999, offers services<\/a> such as \u201cfamily-based immigration legal services,\u201d deferred action for childhood arrivals, and presentations on immigration laws and issues.<\/p>\n The organization\u2019s website explains that it is experiencing a backlog \u201cof requests for immigration legal consultations,\u201d and provides a list of recommended immigration lawyers, other organizations, and resources. The list includes American Gateways.<\/p>\n Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a> sued<\/a> Harris County last November for providing $1.3 million for legal defense services for illegal aliens. Paxton\u2019s filing argued that the funding did not provide any public benefit or consideration for Harris County.<\/p>\n House Speaker Dustin Burrows<\/a> (R\u2013Lubbock) reacted<\/a> to the Austin City Council\u2019s plans on X, noting that this is something the legislature intends to look at before the next legislative session.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Texas Legislature has increased property tax exemptions for families and small businesses, but when local governments turn around and hike taxes to pay for non-essential expenditures, it undermines the progress we\u2019ve made. And Texans are left with the burden,\u201d wrote Burrows.<\/p>\n He added that the House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight is set to look at he misuse of taxpayer money at the local level and discuss ways to strengthen oversight, promote local fiscal responsibility and better protect Texans\u2019 pocketbooks\u201d on September 30.<\/p>\n \n Addie Hovland is a journalist for Texas Scorecard. She hails from South Dakota and is passionate about spreading truth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of the Austin City Council will vote Thursday on a proposed increase in taxpayer funding to organizations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,2115,124418,124419],"class_list":["post-445024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-illegal-immigration","tag-local-governance","tag-local-spending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790159540_333_addie-writer-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\n