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Opinion

Ken Paxton, champion for religious freedom but not Christian charity

Ruling regarding El Paso migrant shelter shows hypocrisy of attorney general’s stance.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has never let his myriad legal troubles, an alleged extramarital affair or an FBI investigation interfere with his work to champion religious freedom. Paxton has gone to bat for public school cheerleaders who wanted to display banners with Bible verses at high school football games. He has advocated for a Marine who refused to remove a paraphrased Bible verse from her work space. He has suited up for a justice of the peace who faced a legal challenge for opening court proceedings with prayer.

But for an El Paso nonprofit that offers Christian hospitality to migrants? Oh, for that charity Paxton had something special in mind. For those Christians he would unleash the power of his office to try to shut them down.

A state district judge this week tossed a baseless lawsuit by Paxton to try to close Annunciation House, a private network of migrant shelters in El Paso. The nonprofit was founded in 1978 and has been associated with the Catholic Diocese of El Paso from the beginning. By all accounts, it is driven by staffers and volunteers who sincerely believe in the Christian principle of helping the sick and the poor, no matter who they are.

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This mess started months ago when Paxton’s office demanded that Annunciation House immediately produce documents. Paxton would not grant an extension, so the nonprofit sued to seek clarity.

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The attorney general then moved to revoke the nonprofit’s registration to operate in Texas.

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Paxton’s office made all sorts of allegations without proof. It said Annunciation House was enabling human smuggling and operating a stash house. Never mind that the group is so well established that federal agencies send over migrants who have been recently processed.

We have been harsh critics of the Biden administration’s lax management of the southern border. But people who cross the border, no matter their circumstances, must be treated humanely. Private shelters, many of them faith-based, are crucial partners to the federal government, offering food, boarding and clothes to people in the asylum pipeline.

District Judge Francisco X. Dominguez said what’s obvious to everyone watching: “The record before this Court makes clear that the Texas Attorney General’s use of the request to examine documents from Annunciation House was a pretext to justify its harassment of Annunciation House employees and the persons seeking refuge.”

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It’s worth pausing on the judge’s ruling that Paxton was violating the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It’s a law that prohibits state agencies from “substantially burdening” a person’s free exercise of religion. When there is a conflict between a person’s faith and government interests, state agencies must use the least restrictive means to get a person to comply with the law.

Paxton long ago deserted the moral high ground, if he ever set foot on it. But we want to have faith in his staff. We pray they will search their conscience and plumb the lessons of the sacred texts that they have made it their mission to defend.

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