Texas Bishop Calls Out 'Campaign of Intimidation, Fear' Taking Over State

A Texas bishop has said the state is seeing a "campaign of intimidation" around the issue of the Southern border after a lawsuit against a charity.

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso there is "an escalating campaign of intimidation, fear and dehumanization in the State of Texas" and took aim against a lawsuit brought against an NGO by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) Ken Paxton.

Seitz, the U.S. Bishops' Conference Migration Committee (USCCB) chair, made February 22 comments in the same week Paxton brought a suit against Annunciation House, an NGO that offers "hospitality to migrants, immigrants, and refugees in El Paso, Texas."

Tensions between Texas officials and the Biden administration remain amid a standoff at the border, following the Supreme Court's January ruling that federal agents can remove razor wire installed under state Governor Greg Abbott's orders.

Seitz also said the purported campaign was "one characterized by barbed wire, harsh new laws penalizing the act of seeking safety at our border" and was a situation not helped by the Biden administration.

There is "serious federal neglect to provide a safe, orderly and humane response to migration at our southern border," Seitz said.

Newsweek has approached Abbott's office, the White House and the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) for comment via an email outside of normal business hours.

Senate Republicans voted against a $118 billion immigration bill orchestrated by lawmakers within their own party, earlier this month. Detractors in the Senate pointed to particular provision requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to shut down the U.S. border only if migrant crossings exceeded a 5,000 daily average in a given week.

Annunciation House

Paxton said in a statement that Annunciation is "facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house." It has sued the NGO to obtain access to some of Annunciation House's documents.

The OAG's office said on February 20 the "consequence of a flagrant failure to comply with such a request is that OAG may terminate the business's right to operate in Texas."

Annunciation House has argued it needs time to assess what documents can legally be passed to Texas.

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid attorney Jerome Wesevich is representing Annunciation House and told NBC News the OAG's office wanted a "a pretext to shut us down."

Newsweek has approached Annunciation House and the OAG's office for comment via an email outside of normal business hours.

"The AG has now made explicit that its real goal is not records but to shut down the organization," the NGO said in a statement on February 21.

It added: "If the work that Annunciation House conducts is illegal – so too is the work of our local hospitals, schools, and food banks."

USCCB concerns

Seitz also decried "the targeting of those who would offer aid as a response of faith" in his statement." He defended Annunciation House and said it was engaged in a "Catholic commitment to the poor."

In January, the USCCB said it was concerned at some of the potential consequences of proposed legislation, such as the Republican-backed "Secure the Border Act."

The bill says a non-governmental organization could be prevented funding if it "facilitates or encourages unlawful activity, including unlawful entry."

This, the USCCB said in January, could lead to "problematic provisions" in the bill that could prevent it from observing Catholic and Christian doctrine regarding "welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry [and] sheltering the homeless."

Part of the bill's aim is to restart building of Donald Trump's border wall.

The Biden administration said it would not support the Secure the Border Act in a statement last May, as the act would "cut off nearly all access to humanitarian protections in ways that are inconsistent with our Nation's values and international obligations."