One of America’s oldest Latino civil rights organizations is raising alarm after several of its members’ homes were raided as part of a voter fraud investigation by the Texas attorney general’s office.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) wants the Justice Department to investigate the raids on at least three members in Texas. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said In a statement Last week his office executed several search warrants in Bexar County, including San Antonio and neighboring Frio and Atascosa counties, as part of an ongoing, two-year investigation. The office did not provide details of the investigation or respond to a request for comment.
No arrests have been made and the exact nature of the investigation remains unclear. But Lulock officials said the searches were designed to intimidate them.
“They’re trying to intimidate people who sign up,” said Roman Palomares, Lulac’s president. “What they’re trying to do is they’re trying to scare, and then it has repercussions here, where everybody reads about it and they go, ‘Oh my god, I mean, if they do that to her and I’m a registrar, oh my god, how are they going to go after me?
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said the agency was aware of the matter and declined to comment further.
Lydia Martinez, 87, said nine officers from the attorney general’s office showed up at her front door at 6 a.m. last Tuesday and searched her home for several hours, seen in her nightgown. He said they were there because senior citizens had complained that they had not received their votes.
Martinez was taken outside in front of his neighbors while officers searched the home, he said. Eventually, the officers took away her laptop, planner and cell phone.
“I asked them why you are doing this. He said because there was fraud,” he said. “I said I didn’t do anything illegal. All I do is help seniors.
Texas has very strict rules on mail-in voting. Only those 65 years of age and older are eligible to request a postal ballot. Anyone assisting someone in requesting a ballot must fill out a form indicating that they assisted. Voters themselves or A family or household member Power to withdraw the ballot paper.
Paxton’s office has operated an entire division dedicated to investigating voter fraud cases for years. The unit has a budget of millions of dollars but closes very few cases. Last fiscal year, for example, it had a budget of $2.3 million and handled only four cases. According to the Houston Chronicle.
In 2021, Texas’ highest criminal court ruled that Paxton could not prosecute cases unilaterally and instead had to be subpoenaed by a local district attorney (her office said local prosecutor Audrey Lewis subpoenaed him in the Lulock case). Prior to that ruling, Paxton Raise cases To create the impression that he had uncovered a huge fraud in Texas.
Paxton, who filed an unsuccessful Supreme Court case to overturn the 2020 election results, said his office last week Investigation Reports of persons registering non-citizens outside DMVs. That investigation appeared to be prompted by a quickly-deleted claim from Fox’s Maria Bartiromo.
Paxton’s hearings come as Republicans fan fears of noncitizen voting, which is extremely rare, ahead of this fall’s election.
A copy of the search warrant for Martinez, provided by Lulock, directed authorities to gather evidence of violations of Texas law that prohibits collecting mail ballots for compensation or “providing votes for a specific candidate” or “distributing votes for a specific candidate.” Authorities were also instructed to gather evidence under Texas law that prohibits the fraudulent use or possession of personally identifiable information.
Martinez said authorities asked him about other LULAC members and Manuel Medina, a Democratic political activist and former chairman of the Democratic Party in Bexar County. Madina’s house was also raided last week. The Texas Tribune reported. An affidavit obtained from a Texas attorney general’s office investigator says authorities have records of Medina discussing a campaign to get votes for Cecilia Castellano, a Democrat.
Castellano said his home was also searched on Monday. She said officers arrived at 6 a.m. with flashlights while her son was sleeping.
“This is how the Republican Party works. They create confusion, false allegations and waste our tax dollars,” he said.
