Texas AG Continues Persecution, On His Own Road to Damascus
In the Book of Acts, the author relates the story of the Apostle Paul suddenly encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Before that encounter, the person formerly known as Saul was issuing “murderous” threats to Christians. Ken Paxton’s crusade against Catholic migrant shelters proves he might be on his own road to Damascus right now. But there is no evidence of a “come to Jesus” moment just yet.
Texans pretty much all hate Paxton for plenty of other reasons. And his crusade has given them just one more reason. The big newspapers in Dallas and Houston are even explicitly questioning Paxton’s religion in the wake of a Texas judge’s plain conclusion that Paxton is persecuting Jesus via an unholy crusade against Catholic migrant shelter organizations. Here is some of what the Dallas Morning News (subscription required) is saying:
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.
The headline from the Houston Chronicle (subscription required here too), asks whether “Ken Paxton [is] a good Christian?” before relating Paxton’s rebuked efforts to harass Annunciation House out of existence. We reported on it last week. Even the Associated Press has picked up on the story, as have several newspapers around the country since the AP said this just last week:
Texas is widening investigations into aid organizations along the U.S.-Mexico border over claims that nonprofits are helping migrants illegally enter the country, taking some groups to court and making demands that a judge called harassment after the state tried shuttering an El Paso shelter. The efforts are led by Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office has defended the state’s increasingly aggressive actions on the border, including razor wire barriers and a law that would allow police to arrest migrants who enter the U.S. illegally.
Since February, Paxton has asked for documents from at least four groups in Texas that provide shelter and food to migrants. That includes one of the largest migrant aid organizations in Texas, Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, which on Wednesday asked a court to stop what the group called a “fishing expedition into a pond where no one has ever seen a fish.”
In a court filing last week seeking to quash another of Paxton’s administrative subpoenas, the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grand Valley said this:
The Petition represents a fishing expedition into a pond where no one has ever seen a fish. The only conclusion to be drawn from the substantial information CCRGV has provided to the Attorney General to date is that CCRGV committed no legal Violations. There is no likely benefit to allowing the Attorney General to continue casting his line into barren waters. Another Texas district court recently referred to a similar investigation of a religious nonprofit by the Attorney General as “outrageous and intolerable.” See Order Granting Plaintiffs Motion for Final Summary Judgment a1: 2, Annunciation House v. Paxton, Cause No. 2024DCV0616 (205th Judicial District July 2, 2024) (attached hereto as Exhibit L).
Paxton is catching hell from all sides but I’m not sure its working. Religious news organizations are condemning Paxton’s continuing persecution. Similar efforts in Louisiana, where the governor stripped a million dollars from another Catholic charity, are provoking similar responses. In Louisiana, the governor was mad that the migrants were provided laundry services, showers, and sometimes legal advice. Even conservative organizations like the Becket Center are defending Catholic Charities against the efforts, calling them attacks on religious freedom.
I tell you what. I would not stand too close to Ken Paxton during a thunder storm. A fella could get hit with a bolt of lightening meant just for him.
darryll k. jones