El Paso County Attorney says AG Paxton could be targeting some counties

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- In March and April of 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tried to pass a rule that would have made certain counties turn over prosecutorial data in certain cases.

The rule has been shut down twice by appeals courts in Texas, but Paxton still wants to get it passed.

El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez and El Paso District Attorney James Montoya both are in a lawsuit against Paxton for the rule. They're involved with the county attorney and DA with Travis County as well.

ABC-7 spoke with both Sanchez and Montoya about the lawsuit and the future of the rule, with Sanchez saying Paxton could be targeting urban counties.

"The only other outcome that I can see in this is it's political in nature, and it's targeted in nature for certain communities and certain counties to take away from what we really need to do," said Sanchez.

In the lawsuit, it says that El Paso County would be using around 12,000 man hours to get the necessary data to the state. Travis County would spend over $3 million in fees to get it done, and Montoya estimated something similar.

"I'm elected by the folks in El Paso, Hudspeth and Culberson counties. They are my boss. That is who I answer to. The priorities for our criminal justice system here locally come from them."

Sanchez said this was a concerning overreach of power from Paxton, and was worried about the migrant population in the county that could be impacted if this rule goes through.

"We have a lot of mixed status families. That information is there. And that gets turned over to somebody in Austin, Texas who was not locally elected to look over these cases to do what with?"

Montoya ended the interview by stating very clearly their priorities are what is going on in the county, not anywhere else.

"Justice delayed is justice denied, and we want to make sure that our folks stay focused on why they come here every day."

ABC-7 has reached out to Paxton for comment regarding the lawsuit, but his office has not responded at this time.