HOUSTON \u2013 A Texas appeals court has cleared Attorney General Ken Paxton to move forward with a lawsuit that could revoke FIEL Houston\u2019s nonprofit charter. The ruling came the same day FIEL\u2019s executive director, Cesar Espinosa, was escorted out of a Houston City Council meeting after a heated exchange with city leaders.<\/p>\n
Paxton accuses the Houston-based immigrant-rights group of violating federal nonprofit law by urging people not to vote for former President Donald Trump and by opposing border-security legislation. The Fifteenth Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court decision that had blocked the case, allowing the attorney general to try again in state district court.<\/p>\n
Espinosa: \u201cWe\u2019re in the civil-rights fight of our time\u201d<\/p>\n
Espinosa told KPRC 2 he believes the lawsuit is political and that FIEL\u2019s work is focused on helping families, not campaigning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are strong in our mission to advocate for families. This is what we do,\u201d Espinosa said. \u201cHe goes after groups he doesn\u2019t agree with. At the end of the day, we\u2019re a charity trying to help families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Espinosa said the timing of the ruling\u2014hours after his confrontation at City Hall\u2014felt intentional. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the civil-rights fight of our time. We\u2019re not backing down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
What the attorney general is arguing<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s lawsuit claims FIEL violated restrictions tied to its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Those federal rules bar nonprofits from endorsing or opposing candidates and from lobbying for or against legislation.<\/p>\n
The attorney general cannot revoke federal status, which is handled by the IRS, but Texas law lets the state seek to dissolve a nonprofit\u2019s charter if it believes the group broke federal or state requirements.<\/p>\n
Legal expert: Case could set a precedent<\/p>\n
Constitutional law professor Josh Blackman of the South Texas College of Law Houston says the case tests how far nonprofits can go in public debate before crossing a legal line.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there are two things that usually they can\u2019t do. Number one, they can\u2019t endorse political candidates. Number two, they can\u2019t lobby for or against legislation. Those are the two big categories of things that cannot be done,\u201d Blackman explained.<\/p>\n
He said the appellate court\u2019s decision does not determine guilt or innocence but allows Paxton to continue the case. \u201cAt this early stage, the case can go forward,\u201d Blackman said.<\/p>\n
Blackman added that groups engaging in public advocacy \u201chave to be very clear of not crossing the line of opposing or favoring certain candidates and also not favoring or opposing certain legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Churches watching closely<\/p>\n
Faith leaders are also following the case. At First Christian Church in Katy, Reverend Heather Tolleson said the same uncertainty hangs over churches that engage in advocacy work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not political. We\u2019re a religious organization that does advocacy because our faith calls us to do that,\u201d Tolleson said. \u201cIt feels like some groups are held to one standard and others to another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tolleson said her congregation supports LGBTQ+ inclusion and immigrant families through community programs but avoids endorsing candidates. \u201cOur greatest gift is our voice, and we\u2019ll keep using it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Blackman said clergy have some free-speech protection but institutions must still follow nonprofit rules. <\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically, churches were considered nonprofits in the general sense, that, for example, priests could not endorse a candidate from the pulpit,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that extends to the actual institution, the church itself, endorsing candidates or taking political positions\u2014a very fine line.\u201d<\/p>\n
What happens next<\/p>\n
The case now returns to a lower court, where the state will try to prove FIEL violated nonprofit law. FIEL\u2019s attorneys with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) plan to defend the organization\u2019s right to advocate for immigrant families.<\/p>\n
Paxton\u2019s office said the lawsuit is about enforcing the law, not silencing speech.<\/p>\n
Espinosa said FIEL will continue its work. \u201cTalk to us and let\u2019s all move forward together,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s better things to do out there than to go into legal battles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A Texas appeals court has cleared Attorney General Ken Paxton to move forward with a lawsuit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2069,56,58,57,1967,1932],"class_list":["post-7354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-fiel-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-ken-paxton","tag-lawsuit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7354","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=7354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}