Texas’ Fifteenth Court of Appeals cleared the way for Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to snuff out a Houston-based immigrants’ rights group based on claims it violated tax law by criticizing President Donald Trump and opposing certain immigration legislation.

The Oct. 9 opinion from the appeals court, which Paxton publicized on Wednesday, reversed a previous trial court’s order that effectively denied the state’s efforts to revoke FIEL Houston’s nonprofit charter. Last year, the organization disputed claims laid out in the attorney general’s original 105-page lawsuit. Harris County Judge Ravi Sandill, on Aug. 23, 2024, rejected the attorney general’s motion to shutter FIEL after hearing arguments, prompting the state to appeal the judge’s decision.

The latest opinion in the case doesn’t make a ruling on whether the organization’s charter should be revoked over engaging in political activities — instead kicking the discussion back to a lower court — but allows the attorney general’s office to move forward with the effort.

FIEL executive director Cesar Espinosa on Wednesday said the organization is waiting for guidance from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a legal civil rights organization that challenged Paxton’s lawsuit, before commenting on the latest proceeding.

RELATED: Harris County judge rejects Ken Paxton’s attempt to shutter local immigrant rights group FIEL

Paxton called the appeals court’s opinion a major victory against the organization.

“Anti-American organizations like FIEL’s aim to destroy our country and flood our nation with foreign invaders,” Paxton said. “They claim the benefits of a non-profit organization while flagrantly violating our laws by taking prohibited political action, and the Fifteenth Court of Appeals made the right decision in allowing this case to move forward.”

The opinion appears to advance Paxton’s legal efforts to dissolve the organization by giving him a green light to petition for revoking FIEL’s nonprofit charter, but ultimately leaves the issues raised by the organization and the state to be decided by a lower court.

It comes more than a year after Paxton filed his lawsuit against FIEL, alleging the organization broke rules that govern nonprofits, which are prohibited from participating in political campaigns or attempting to influence legislation. The attorney general’s office cites as evidence social media posts by FIEL that criticize Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and their immigration policies, along with advocating against anti-immigration legislation.

Espinosa previously told Houston Public Media that the lawsuit stems from the fact that the organization “holds elected officials accountable.”

“It actually doesn’t go after us because of the work that we do with immigrants, but rather what we talk about when it comes to uplifting immigrant voices,” Espinosa said.

According to the Internal Revenue Code, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations are prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of a particular candidate for elective public office.