Texas keeps up its crusade against migrant shelters

Under the direction of Republican Governor Greg Abbott, the state has intensified efforts to criminalize all support for immigrants and tried to shut down shelters such as Annunciation House in El Paso

Harassment at the Mexico-Texas border not only affects migrants seeking to cross into the United States, but also those who help them and offer them food, clothing and a place to sleep. Under Republican Governor Greg Abbott, Texas has intensified efforts to criminalize all support for migrants. And its controversial attorney general, Ken Paxton, has launched a crackdown on shelters, mostly Catholic, with the goal of closing them down.

In a recent case, Paxton requested the closure of Annunciation House, a shelter run by a Catholic nonprofit that has been aiding migrants for decades on the border in El Paso, Texas. The shelter network has been key to reuniting families with children separated at the border and receiving sick or seriously injured asylum seekers, such as survivors of the fire at the Ciudad Juárez detention center where 40 men died in 2023.