Texas urges court to allow quo warranto, subpoenas and injunctions against Annunciation House over alleged harboring

At a Supreme Court of Texas oral argument, counsel for the State said Attorney General Ken Paxton may use three tools — a temporary injunction, a quo warranto petition to seek forfeiture of a corporate charter, and an administrative subpoena — to stop Annunciation House from sheltering people the State says are in the country unlawfully.

The State’s lawyer, Mr. Bash, told the court that Annunciation House’s own admissions in the record are enough at the pleading stage to permit discovery and a quo warranto claim. “They boast about how they help aliens who cross illegally with help from a coyote,” Bash said, and he argued the organization has “the most important part of their mission” devoted to assisting people who crossed the border unlawfully. He said those admissions, together with conduct the State alleges — refusing law-enforcement entry without a warrant, instructing guests it would continue to protect them after a subpoena was served, and interposing frivolous objections — justify the remedies the State seeks and satisfy pleading standards for quo warranto.

Annunciation House’s counsel, Ms.…