Ugh.
The Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked Harris County’s $1.3 million immigration assistance program on Friday due to “serious doubt about the constitutionality” of the initiative.
In November 2025, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Harris County, alleging that it illegally spent public funds on a program aimed at providing legal aid for undocumented immigrants. That program, the Immigrant Legal Services Fund, was created by county commissioners in 2020 for deportation defense services.
The program operates by paying attorneys fees and related expenses for migrants facing deportation, who aren’t guaranteed an attorney because immigration cases are generally considered civil matters.
[…]
Harris County officials called the decision alarming in a Friday news release, especially as it comes a day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could turn back asylum seekers at ports of entry along the southern border.
“The State of Texas is driving this lawsuit, and Donald Trump’s deadly ICE raids are harming the community, spreading fear, separating families and undermining trust in our communities,” said Commissioner Rodney Ellis. “We provide this critical service because Harris County should protect every resident, regardless of immigration status.”
County Attorney Abbie Kamin said the decision is temporary and not final, and that the county would continue to defend the program.
“Harris County has prevailed in this case on the merits before every court that has considered it,” Kamin said. “This program exists because we know that our community members who live and work alongside us, who contribute to our local economy and our neighborhoods every day, lack access to legal representation when they face immigration proceedings.”
See here, here, and here for the background, and here for a copy of the order, in which three Justices noted their dissent. Seems to me the only way SCOTx can reach this conclusion is to say that their Republican colleagues on the 15th Court of Appeals got some pretty basic facts of the law wrong. I don’t know what to make of that, but here we are.