Harris County can continue funding an immigrant legal aid program after a Texas appeals court rejected Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to shut it down, according to a Feb. 25 ruling by the 15th Court of Appeals.
The appeals court said Paxton had not shown that the county’s grants harmed residents, rejecting an argument that the program violated the Texas Constitution by functioning as an unconstitutional gift of public funds. The court wrote that Texas “has long recognized that ‘procuring counsel’ for indigent persons in civil cases ‘is the performance of a needed public service,’” and said the state failed to explain why providing counsel to indigent people facing federal deportation is unconnected to such programs and concerns.
Paxton sued Harris County in November for allocating taxpayer dollars to nonprofits that provide legal assistance to people navigating immigration proceedings. He argued the program was an improper gift of public funds to private entities and said it was unconstitutional; both a district court and the appeals court rejected the effort to halt the program.
The appeals court’s reasoning built on what it described as the evidence gap in Paxton’s case. It said the state had not produced proof that the grants harmed residents despite the program operating for several years, and it noted Harris County’s requirements for use of the services and documentation from the nonprofit providers.
In its decision, the 15th Court of Appeals also pointed to limits on judicial review of policy choices. The judges wrote that while many programs might be “favored by one faction or political party but not another,” the judiciary should not second-guess those choices unless the state can show the program is clearly unconstitutional. The appeals court also said Harris County can stop providing the grants if a service provider does not comply, and it noted the county had done so twice.
The program’s structure and results have been a key part of how Harris County officials defended the spending. The county started its Immigrant Legal Services Fund in 2020, initially allocating $2.5 million to help people navigate immigration proceedings, and the court described the program as routing county dollars to five organizations: BakerRipley, the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project, Justice for All Immigrants, KIND, Inc. and the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Service.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said at the time the program was created that when families face deportation hearings without attorneys, they are deported at far higher rates than families with counsel. She said, “When you have a family at a deportation hearing and they don’t have an attorney, they’re deported at a much higher rate, like 90 percent of the time, compared to like 5 percent of the time when they do have an attorney,” according to the Houston Chronicle, and the appeals court echoed that the program had been operating since 2021 without apparent objection or controversy.
The appeals court also found that Harris County’s program had helped 373 people over the last five years and said most closed cases were resolved through removal or voluntary departure from the U.S. The ruling came as immigration enforcement accelerated under President Donald Trump, and as the Harris County Jail has been described as leading the nation in ICE detainers—requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to hold a person for deportation.
Paxton’s broader legal strategy also extends beyond Harris County. The attorney general filed a similar lawsuit against Bexar County earlier this month, arguing the county’s immigration services spending is likewise unconstitutional; district judges rejected both suits before Paxton appealed the Harris County case to the all-Republican appeals court established in 2023 for certain state-government appeals.
In the Bexar County case, officials face a Feb. 28 timeline tied to a district court deadline. The program’s end date is scheduled for Feb. 28—one day after a court deadline to Paxton’s office—and Paxton sued the county on Feb. 4 seeking to shut down what he called a “criminal-loving agenda.” In a separate district-court ruling, the judge barred attorneys with Paxton’s office from trying the case and said the suit would be dismissed in a week unless authorized counsel took their place.
After Tuesday’s appeals-court ruling, Harris County Attorney Jonathan Fombonne said it showed Paxton’s “claims don’t match the facts.” In a statement, Fombonne said, “This program has operated responsibly for years and continues to serve a legitimate public purpose,” adding that his office would keep defending the program.
Harris County commissioner Adrian Garcia echoed that view, saying the program “has been operating responsibly and without issue for years.” In a statement, he said that “that is, until Ken Paxton decided to run for higher office,” noting Paxton is challenging Sen. John Cornyn in a GOP primary.