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The county should act now to restore funding for a migrant legal defense fund, according to advocates who appeared before Bexar County Commissioners during their meeting this week.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had sued the county to stop such funding, including before the Texas Supreme Court, but the litigation came to a screeching halt because the county had already spent the money.
Paxton argued the county did not have the state constitutional authority for such spending.
The county paid around $1 million to American Gateways, a nonprofit, to provide legal services to migrants during deportation hearings.
Amanda Thomas, executive director for ACT 4 SA, wants commissioners to act to restore the funding.
"Despite frivolous and baseless lawsuits by Attorney General Paxton to attack this fund, judges have ruled in favor of its constitutionality," she said. "Yet, the renewal of the ILDF (Immigrant Legal Defense Fund) has lapsed and the funding is currently expired, putting hundreds of families at risk at a time San Antonio ranks in the top five cities for ICE arrests."
Priscilla Olivares of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center told commissioners the community is watching them as the rights of migrants continue to be violated.
"San Antonio now ranks fourth, not ninth, in the county in regard to most ICE arrests in the nation," she said. "We are seeing arrests at immigration court, at ICE check-in appointments in our neighborhoods, and even our elementary schools."
The fund has sat empty since February, putting migrants at increased risk for deportation, according to Thomas and Olivares, who are also both members of the SA Stands Coalition, composed of individuals and organizations who look out for migrant rights.
Olivares said 84% of migrants who appear at deportation hearings have no legal representation.
It's not clear if the county intends to resume funding after the legal brush with Paxton, who is in a primary runoff against incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn.
