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Annunciation House is a charity with close association to the Catholic Church. Their affiliation allows donations from a wide range of sources across the region, nation, and globe to be funneled directly into their bank accounts. Apparently, they’ve been using that money to act as human smugglers, both in cooperation and competition with the Mexican cartel “coyotes.” Any way they can get more gang members and terrorists across the border is okay with them.
Charity funded smuggling
Allegedly a simple “charity run shelter,” the group in El Paso, Texas, has been “planning and facilitating” illegal aliens “to cross over the border from Mexico into the U.S.” That’s what it says in the charging documents. Attorney General Ken Paxton recently filed suit against Annunciation House.
The Catholic group runs “a handful of shelters providing temporary housing to migrants who have illegally crossed into the U.S.” They like to call that “sanctuary,” so it doesn’t sound so criminal. Also, it lets them use “their religious designation to avoid publicly filing annual financial disclosures.”
Paxton started his probe earlier this year. As soon as he demanded the charity turn over their documents they started dragging their feet. There’s no way they were going to hand over what he was asking for without a fight. Not that they had anything to hide.
He wanted all the records they had on their “migrant clients.” They refused to hand any over. That would prove they were running a stash house. They haven’t filed anything with the IRS since 2003.
As related in the papers filed in El Paso County Court, “Annunciation House publicly depicts itself as a humble organization promising to ‘simply live the Good News of the Gospel‘ and provide ‘compassion and freedom‘ to ‘outcast or alien.‘”
While that sounds reasonably harmless and in line with what a charity should do, “the actual operations of Annunciation House are quite different.” Staff has a tendency to brag to undercover investigators.
Intended to continue
With a few margaritas in them for lubrication, Annunciation House staff babbled away endlessly, making “multiple admissions that they had assisted migrants in the past in the United States who had not surrendered to Border Patrol.” The charity acted as a stop on the underground railroad.
All the gotaways who made it to their shelter were hidden from authorities and shuffled off to their destination of choice. Equipped with a bus ticket, cell phone and standard Welcome to America starter pack.
The charity also took a more aggressive and proactive role. Annunciation House employees “assisted persons in Mexico in crossing over to the United States.”
Not only have they been doing it for years, they plan to keep doing it no matter who’s running the White House. They fully intended, the paperwork notes, “to continue these activities in the future.” They have a regular taxi service.
“Annunciation House contracts with a local company once or twice a week to transport migrants in passenger vans in groups of approximately 15.” Small batches are easier for the charity to manage.
“Annunciation House knows that at least some of the aliens it provides services to are present illegally and are trying to avoid Border Patrol. Annunciation House’s transportation of those aliens presents a very significant likelihood of human smuggling.“
