“We must stop the left-wing radicals who are robbing Texans to prevent illegals from being deported by the Trump Administration,” Paxton said in a statement. “Beyond just being blatantly unconstitutional, this is evil and wicked.”
In the complaint, the state argues that immigrants who are subject to removal “have no constitutional or statutory right to government-appointed counsel” and must obtain legal counsel at no expense to the government, according to state law.
Harris County in southeast Texas includes most of Houston and is about 35 miles from the Gulf of America.
Commissioners voted 4-1 in October to approve the funds for the county’s Immigrant Legal Services Fund program, managed by its Housing and Community Development Department, to provide legal support to undocumented immigrants. The fund sends money to five organizations that help immigrants fight deportation.
County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the executive in charge of the committee, requested the county create the fund in 2020, saying the immigration system was “deeply broken and complicated.” The county approved $2 million for the fund that year and has spent at least $8 million on services over the past five years.
The additional $1,344,751 will be sent to immigrant legal organizations—BakerRipley, Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project, Justice for All Immigrants, KIND, Inc., and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Service—to cover expenses until the end of 2026, according to the staff report.
Commissioner Tom Ramsey cast the lone vote against approving the funds after questioning the legality of the agenda item. Commissioners did not discuss the issue.
Despite his “no” vote, the state filed the lawsuit against Ramsey and the other three commissioners, Hidalgo, and the county administrator. The state also sued the director of the Harris County Housing and Community Development agency.
Paxton said the groups receiving the taxpayer money were “open-border activist groups.” He said in a statement that the expenditures “serve no public purpose and instead constitute unconstitutional grants of public funds to private entities to subsidize the legal defense of illegal aliens who ought to be deported.”
The Texas constitution prohibits governmental entities like Harris County from using public funds as gifts or for private benefit to people and groups that do not serve a legitimate public purpose, according to the attorney general.
Hidalgo did not immediately return a request for comment about the lawsuit.
