Texas AG Paxton launches border crisis probe into Texas Bar Foundation fund recipients

(The Center Square ) – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday launched an investigation into three Texas Bar Foundation fund recipients to determine if the money was used to facilitate the border crisis.

The foundation, a separate entity from the State Bar of Texas, is governed by its own board and solicits donations to provide a range of services.

The investigation expands on one his office launched in May, to determine if the foundation was “possibly aiding and abetting the mass influx of illegal aliens” into Texas and the U.S.

Paxton's office launched it after U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, filed a complaint and after members of the public expressed concerns about the foundation’s alleged involvement in facilitating illegal immigration.

The Center Square first reported on organizations that received foundation funds specifically to aid foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally, including ProBAR, several Catholic Charities (Texas Panhandle, Dallas, Central Texas, and Diocese of Galveston-Houston), Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, International Rescue Committee, and Fe y Justicia Workers Center.

Paxton’s office is now investigating two Austin-based entities, American Gateways and the Equal Justice Center, and Virginia-based Tahirih Justice Center.

His office sent Requests to Examine (RTEs) to the three entities, he said, to determine if Texas Bar Foundation funds they received were used “to exacerbate the current crisis at the border and to thwart the efforts of federal and state law enforcement to secure the border.”

“Biden and his allies have caused an invasion at the border and a crisis in the homeland. Not only has this Administration abdicated its duty to secure the border, but it has also actively encouraged an illegal invasion into the United States,” Paxton said. “What’s more, it seems some Texas groups may be facilitating the invasion. I won’t tolerate it. I will stay firm in my duty and responsibility to serve and protect Texans from the fallout of these irresponsible parties.”

Paxton made the claim after he wouldn’t issue a formal legal opinion about Texas declaring an invasion despite repeated calls by Texas conservatives to do so. His office is also at odds with the Texas GOP, at least 40 county judges and an international law expert’s interpretation of the invasion clauses of the Texas and U.S. Constitution. The groups have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to declare an invasion and repel it, which he has yet to do.

The RTEs sent to the three entities request them to produce and make available a range of documents to the Charitable Trusts Section of the AG’s Consumer Protection Division at their respective locations by Dec. 21 or deliver the requested material to the division on or before Dec. 22. The entities’ board members and officers also were given notice that the RTEs remain effective until the AG’s investigation is completed, the RTEs state, and additional documentation may be requested as the investigation progresses.

In response, Edna Yang, American Gateways co-executive director, told KERA News, “For over 30 years American Gateways has provided high quality trusted legal services that follow all federal, state, and local guidelines. We have received an inquiry from the Attorney General’s office and we are providing the responsive information.”

Tahirih CEO Archi Pyati issued a statement saying, “The Tahirih Justice Center is a national, nonprofit organization supporting women, girls, and other survivors of gender-based violence. We provide legal and social services to help survivors obtain rights to which they are entitled under U.S. law. We have received an inquiry from the Texas Attorney General related to our work to provide legal services and are responding in accordance with the law.”

The Equal Justice Center has yet to issue a statement in response to the RTE.

Paxton made the announcement on the same day Abbott asked him to “initiate an investigation into the role of NGOs [non-governmental organizations] in planning and facilitating the illegal transportation of illegal immigrants across our borders.”

On Sunday, more than 2,600 people crossed the Rio Grande River near El Paso and illegally entered Texas over a 24-hour period. On Monday, Fox News published video and photographs of a caravan of nearly 20 buses full of foreign nationals being “escorted by Mexican police into Ciudad Juarez before they crossed en masse into El Paso.”

El Paso, which falls in the Border Patrol El Paso Sector and includes two west Texas counties and all of New Mexico, has become a destination of illegal entry orchestrated by the Mexican drug cartels working in concert with the Mexican government, law enforcement officials have told The Center Square. The Texas Public Policy Foundation also says the Mexican government is colluding with cartels.

Abbott requested Paxton investigate due to “reports that NGOs may have assisted with” illegal border crossings and “may be engaged in unlawfully orchestrating other border crossings through activities on both sides of the border, including in sectors other than El Paso.”

In November, the number of foreign nationals who illegally entered the El Paso Sector was greater than the individual populations of all cities in New Mexico except for four.

Border Patrol agents reported a record number of more than 306,000 foreign nationals who illegally entered the U.S. through the southern border, according to preliminary data obtained by The Center Square. The record high numbers continue after more than 2.7 million people were apprehended by CBP agents illegally entering the U.S. in FY22.