McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A judge blasted efforts by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to shutter one of the oldest and largest migrant shelters on the U.S.-Mexico border in a scathing ruling Tuesday, accusing the Republican of “outrageous” conduct over his claims that the shelter encourages migrants to enter the country illegally.
Judge Francisco X. Dominguez ruled that Paxton's attempts to enforce a subpoena for records of migrants who have been served at Annunciation House in the last few years violated the El Paso shelter's constitutional rights. His ruling prevents Paxton from seeking the records and protects the shelter from what Dominguez called “harassment and overreaching” by Paxton’s office.
Paxton's office did not respond to requests for comment, but the state is expected to appeal.
Annunciation House is one of several nonprofit groups that help migrants from which Paxton's office has sought information in recent months. Team Brownsville, which assists migrants who are dropped off by federal agents in the border city of Brownsville, received a letter demanding documents in May. Paxton is also suing Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley seeking testimony.
Dominguez wrote that he previously expressed concern that Paxton’s office had not identified which laws Annunciation House was allegedly breaking.
“The record before this Court makes clear that the Texas Attorney General’s use of the request to examine documents from Annunciation House was a pretext to justify its harassment of Annunciation House employees and the persons seeking refuge,” he wrote.
“In fact, the record before the Court now establishes that the Attorney General was seeking evidence of alleged criminal activity all along,” Dominguez went on to say. “This is outrageous and intolerable.”
Paxton alleged that by providing shelter to migrants regardless of their legal status, Annunciation House was facilitating illegal immigration and human smuggling, and operating a stash house.
State officials visited the El Paso shelter in early February demanding immediate access to records — including medical and immigration documents — of migrants who had received services there since 2022. Officials from Annunciation House, a Catholic nonprofit that oversees a network of shelters, said they were willing to comply but needed time to determine what they could legally share without violating their clients’ constitutional rights.
Investigators who sought to access records the day after requesting entry were not allowed inside the shelter. Jerry Wesevich, the attorney representing Annunciation House, said that corporations under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
Wesevich expressed relief after the ruling and said it could impact other organizations. He also questioned why Paxton wanted to close the shelter.
“All that’s going to mean is more people in El Paso streets. Who does that help? All it does is provide a narrative of chaos on the border, which is a narrative that some people politically want to promote," Wesevich said.
FILE - Ruben Garcia, founder and director of Annunciation House, a network of migrants shelters in El Paso ,Texas, speaks with the media during a news conference, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. A Texas judge ruled against the state attorney general on Tuesday, July 2, in his effort to shut down a migrant shelter in El Paso that he claimed encourages illegal migration.(AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)
FILE - Migrant parents socialize outside the Annunciation House, June 26, 2018, in El Paso, Texas. A Texas judge ruled against the state attorney general on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in his effort to shut down a migrant shelter in El Paso that he claimed encourages illegal migration. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
BANGKOK (AP) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surged Thursday to a record close of 40,913.65, while most other major world markets also advanced.
Investors worldwide are keen to see the Federal Reserve cut rates that it has been keeping at two-decade highs to slow growth and tame inflation, and hopes have been reviving that price pressures are easing enough to make that possible.
In early European trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.2% to 18,586.00 and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.8% to 7,694.52.
In London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 8,228.90. British voters were choosing a new government in a parliamentary election Thursday that is widely expected to bring the opposition Labour Party to power.
The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%.
The Nikkei 225 gained 0.8% to 40,913.65, with buying of automakers' shares and other export oriented stocks pushing the benchmark to an all-time high. The Nikkei 225’s all-time high during intraday trading is 41,087.75, on March 22. Its previous record close was 40,888.43, also set on March 22.
The index surpassed its longstanding record of 38,915.87, set on Dec. 29, 1989, in February.
Toyota Motor Corp.’s shares jumped 2% and Honda Motor Co. climbed 3%. Nissan Motor Corp. rallied 4.5% and shares in computer testing equipment maker Advantest Corp. gained 2.1%.
Investors have piled into the Japanese market partly due to the cheapness of the Japanese yen, which is trading at 34-year lows against the dollar. A weak yen tends to push the profits of exporters higher when they are repatriated to Japan.
Changes in regulations on investment accounts have also boosted share purchases.
The Nikkei 225 index has gained 22.4% so far this year. The index surged in the late 1980s during Japan’s bubble economy, when asset prices soared. But it collapsed when that financial bubble imploded in early 1990.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng recovered from early losses, rising 0.3% to 18,028.28, and the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.8% to 2,957.57.
Taiwan's Taiex jumped 1.5% as chip maker and market heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. gained 2.7%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.2% to 7,831.80, while the Kospi in Seoul advanced 1.1% to 2,824.94.
Bangkok's SET picked up 0.5%.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks kept rising in a holiday-shortened session after weak reports on the economy kept the door open for possible cuts to interest rates.
U.S. markets are closed Thursday for the Independence Day holiday.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to set an all-time high for a second straight day and for the 33rd time this year. It closed at 5,537.02. The Dow dipped 0.1% to 39,308.00, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.9% to 18,188.30.
The hope on Wall Street is that the economy will soften by just enough to keep a lid on upward pressure on inflation, but not so much that it throws workers out of their jobs and triggers a recession.
A much more anticipated report will arrive on Friday, when the U.S. government will give its comprehensive update about how many workers employers added to their payrolls during June.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.35% from 4.44% late Tuesday, a notable move for the bond market, and much of the slide came after the report on U.S. services businesses. It’s been generally sinking since April on hopes that inflation is slowing enough to get the Federal Reserve to lower its main interest rate from the highest level in more than two decades.
In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gave up 41 cents to $83.47 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, lost 35 cents to $86.99 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 161.23 Japanese yen from 161.67 yen, reflecting expectations that U.S. interest rate cuts might narrow the gap in rates with Japan, where the benchmark lending rate is near zero.
The euro rose to $1.0799 from $1.0787.
A passerby walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index, right, at a securities firm Thursday, July 4, 2024 in Tokyo. Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark closed Thursday at a fresh record high of 40,913.65, pushing past its most recent record close set in March. (Kyodo News via AP)
A passerby walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index, center, at a securities firm Thursday, July 4, 2024 in Tokyo. Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark closed Thursday at a fresh record high of 40,913.65, pushing past its most recent record close set in March. (Kyodo News via AP)
The New York Stock Exchange is seen on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in New York. Wall Street is leaning toward minuscule gains before the bell ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
A passerby walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index, center, at a securities firm Thursday, July 4, 2024 in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
A passerby walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index, right, at a securities firm Thursday, July 4, 2024 in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
A passerby walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Thursday, July 4, 2024 in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
