LULAC says Texas AG Paxton is 'engaged in official oppression' of minority voters following raids

The oldest and largest Latino civil rights group, LULAC, says Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has actively "engaged in official oppression" of minority voters following a series of raids on the homes of Latino campaign volunteers in the state.

The League of United Latin American Citizens issued a press release asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate Paxton and "his agents for abuse of the elderly, children, violations of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and more to be announced."

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits racial discrimination in voting, and it is designed to enforce the voting rights protected by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution.

The group also announced it will be hosting a news conference in El Paso to address its allegations. Ray Mancera, national vice president for the Southwest for LULAC will be among the expected speakers. They said that local elected and community leaders, concerned citizens, and get-out-the-vote volunteers will also speak at the event.

The Aug. 20 raids targeted Manuel Medina, chair of the Tejano Democrats, several LULAC members, a state House candidate and a local area mayor, according to the Associated Press.

Medina told reporters that agents searched his home for several hours and seized numerous documents, computers and cellphones.

Similarly, Lidia Martinez, who instructs older residents on how to vote, said nine investigators rummaged through her home for more than two hours and took her smartphone and watch. She said officers told her they were there because she filed a complaint that seniors weren't getting their mail ballots. The search warrant ordered officials to confiscate any election-related items, NBC News reported.

"They sat me down and they started searching all my house, my store room, my garage, kitchen, everything," Martinez said at the news conference Monday. "I'm not doing anything illegal. All I do is help the seniors."

Following the raids, Gabriel Rosales, Texas LULAC's state director, said in a statement that Paxton carried out the raids 11 weeks before the 2024 elections "to suppress the Latino vote through intimidation and any means necessary to tilt the electoral process in favor of his political allies."

Rosales also says that LULAC is unaware about the details of any accusations, arguing that such raids "wastes" taxpayers' money.

"It is disgraceful and outrageous that the state of Texas, and its highest-ranking law enforcement officer is once again using the power of his office to instill fear in the hearts of community members who volunteer their time to promote civic engagement," he continued.

Paxton has previously said his office's Election Integrity Unit began looking into election fraud allegations after receiving a referral from a local prosecutor. He has also falsely claimed that immigrants were being given Social Security numbers at the border as part of a scheme. But there's no evidence of that, or that non-citizens cast ballots in any significant numbers.

"There's a reason Joe Biden brought people here illegally," Paxton said on a radio show earlier last month. "I'm convinced that that's how they're going to do it this time, they're going to use the illegal vote. Why were they brought in, why did he bring 14 million people? He brought them here to vote."