'Is there no shame!' Catholic El Paso migrant shelter DENIES running human smuggling ring and blasts Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for calling 'House of God a stash house'

A Catholic migrant shelter in El Paso has hit back at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over 'baseless' allegations that the charity is running a human smuggling ring. 

Annunciation House, a well-known and respected migrant charity in West Texas, has been accused of 'alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house' by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Earlier this week, the top prosecutor in the Lone Star State said he would shut down the non-profit by suspending its business license for refusing to hand over documents he wanted.

Flanked by El Paso's top elected and religious leaders, the director of Annunciation House Ruben Garcia called Paxton's actions an attack on Catholic groups doing the work of the Gospel.

'I personally am taken a back by the use of words like "smuggling." To call our houses of hospitality "stash houses." Is there no shame-- to refer to houses of God, house of hospitality as "stash houses,"' Garcia said. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton demanded documents from the Annunciation House, a migrant charity in El Paso, Texas on Feb. 7

Migrant children from different Latin American countries rest on cots inside one of several shelters run by Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton pictured on Feb. 16 leaving a Houston court hearing for a felony security fraud case that he's a defendant in

Annunciation House has been taking in migrants for 46 years, giving them a place to stay, meals and a place to wash up when they enter the US in El Paso after they have been screened, vetted and legally released into the country by federal immigration authorities. 

Most migrants who pass through El Paso are not staying in the border city, with the vast majority traveling on the other places in the US.

Volunteers with Annunciation House also help connect migrants with friends and relatives who can buy the migrant's ticket out of town.  

On February 7, the Republican state prosecutor sent lawyers to Annunciation House, giving the organization one day to turn over records 'without an explanation,' the religious group said.

'The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) reviewed significant public record information strongly suggesting Annunciation House is engaged in legal violations such as facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house,' Paxton's office alleged in its own press release Tuesday.

In legal filings, Paxton pointed to news coverage of Annunciation House, where the the organization admitted to housing 'migrants who avoided Border Patrol' when they illegally crossed the Southern border. 

Migrant families are dropped off at an Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas after being processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in December 2022

Annunciation House Director Ruben Garcia called Ken Paxton's actions 'immoral' and 'illegal'

Migrant children from different Latin American countries wait to receive food at a new center opened by the Annunciation House to help the large flow of migrants being released by the United States Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso, Texas on April 24, 2019

Asylum-seeking migrants are dropped off at Annunciation House in El Paso in December 2022 after being screened by US Customs and Border Protection

When Annunciation House's lawyer told Paxton's office it would respond in 30 days, the AG's office told the charity they would be shut down.

The non-profit sued to block Paxton's request for records and what their lawyer called 'government overreach.'

'Attorney General Paxton claims that he can walk into any business at any time and demand any documents that he wants-- including customer records, medical records, legal records,' Attorney Jerry Wasevich stated Friday.

'He claims that if the business does not comply to his satisfaction that he can permanently shut down that business in Texas.' 

Actions by Paxton, a Republican, were largely seen as political by the Democratic leaders of Texas' sixth largest city. 

'You mess with Ruben, you mess with Annunciation House, you're messing with us,' County Judge Ricardo Samaniego defiantly declared on Friday.

'We're going to show that is the line in the sand.'

El Paso has fought political and legal battles against the state's GOP leadership before, including during the pandemic over masks and closing down businesses.

Most recently, El Paso County sued the state over SB4, a Texas law that would allow local and state cops to stop anyone they suspected of being a illegal immigrant. 

Courts have yet to make a final ruling, however, with the law slated to go into effect on March 4. 

Local leaders warned that Paxton's intention was to shut down any religious group that was helping migrants - something many extreme-right politicians disapprove of.

'What we are seeing happening is part of a broader, terrifying assault on welcoming communities,' local Congresswoman Veronica Escobar explained.

'I can tell you that in the US Congress, the extreme, far-right members of the Republican party have done everything possible to eliminate local governments and organizations that are providing humanitarian care to migrants. I have heard on the House Judiciary Committee, Republican colleagues denounce and attack Catholic Charities and the Catholic Church.'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, front left, talks with his defense attorney Anthony Osso, Jr., during a hearing in his securities fraud case , Friday, Feb. 16, at the Harris County criminal courthouse in Houston. A judge on Friday rejected Paxton's attempts to throw out felony securities fraud charges that have shadowed the Republican for nearly a decade 

Ken Paxton mega-donor Nate Paul was indicted by the feds last year. The Texas businessman at the center of an FBI investigation that he and Paxton entered into an illegal quid pro quo, with Paxton helping Paul with legal troubles in exchange for Paul hiring Paxton's mistress

Ken Paxton's affair with his former mistress, Laura Olson, is central to accusations Ken Paxton broke the law

Paxton has been under investigation by the FBI for years, with accusations of corruption and abuse of power. He also faces state charges in unrelated criminal cases.

In May, the Republican was impeached by the Texas House, with accusations of an illegal quid pro quo - that Paxton helped one of his wealthy donors Nate Paul in exchange for that same donor giving Paxton's mistress, Laura Olson, a job.

Paxton survived being removed from office, but he faces multiple criminal investigation in the Lone Star State.

Paxton's office did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.