SAN ANTONIO – A district judge rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against Bexar County, which sought to shut down a program using county funds to help immigrants living in the U.S. illegally access legal support.
Judge Mary Lou Alvarez ruled the state did not have the authority to file the lawsuit. Another judge rejected a similar lawsuit Paxton’s office filed against Harris County last December.
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The initiative, launched in May 2024, provided $1 million to two nonprofits that help people facing deportation get immigration lawyers.
Why Paxton sued?
Paxton argued in the lawsuits against Bexar and Harris counties that the programs “serve no public purpose and instead constitute unconstitutional grants of public funds to private entities to subsidize individual deportation defenses.”
He has asked judges to stop officials in Harris and Bexar counties from disbursing funds to these organizations immediately, and bar them from doing so in the future.
Paxton has filed similar lawsuits against the cities of Austin and San Antonio over their support of nonprofit organizations that help Texans access abortions.
In June, the 15th Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, blocking San Antonio from using the funds the city had allocated to potentially help people who needed to travel out of the state for abortions.
Bexar County said it does not comment on pending litigation when KSAT 12 reached out for comment.
When funding was approved, however, Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores said it was part of the county’s commitment to “fight for human rights.”
Commissioner Grant Moody, who was the sole vote against the funding, said he was worried about a lawsuit from Paxton if they approved the funding.
This story is developing and will be updated.
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