Judge blocks Texas Attorney General’s efforts to shut down migrant services provider for now

District Judge Francisco Dominguez ruled that Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton must utilize the state’s court system if he wants to investigate Annunciation House in El Paso, keeping the El Paso-based shelter network from having to release records that had been demanded of them for immediate review by the AG’s office in early February.

“The Attorney General’s efforts to run roughshod over Annunciation House, without regard to due process or fair play, call into question the true motivation for the Attorney General’s attempt to prevent Annunciation House from providing the humanitarian and social services that it provides,” Dominguez wrote in his order. “There is a real and credible concern that the attempt to prevent Annunciation House from conducting business in Texas was predetermined.”

Supreme Court keeps hold on Texas immigration bill while considering the constitutionality of the policy

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito extended the stay on Texas’ immigration legislation (SB4) until March 18. The law gives state and local law enforcement the power to arrest individuals that they suspect are present in the country without proper documentation and gives local judges the ability to deport migrants to Mexico. However, the Supreme Court is examining the constitutionality of the law because immigration enforcement falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Studies find that immigrants commit fewer crimes than U.S.-born citizens

The erroneous belief that immigration brings more crime to the U.S. has been in existence since the first immigrants came to the country. However, a number of research studies have shown that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the U.S. Extensive research completed by Stanford University has found that since the 1960s, immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S. citizens. Research completed by the CATO Institute studied illegal immigration and crime in Texas and found that immigrants without documentation were 37.1% less likely to be convicted of a crime. In addition, a collaborative study completed by 4 universities found that there is no link between people without documentation and an increase in crime, and in fact suggests that through the course of the study, which spanned several decades, violent crime decreased as the immigrant population grew in the locations studied. For additional information, check out our Instagram post on the topic.