By Miranda Nazzaro
In a letter sent to DOJ’s civil rights division, the president and CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac), Roman Palomares and Juan Proaño, expressed the group’s “deep concern” that Paxton’s probe violated the civil rights of Latino citizens in Texas.
“These actions echo a troubling history of voter suppression and intimidation that has long targeted both Black and Latino communities, particularly in states like Texas, where demographic changes have increasingly shifted the political landscape,” Palomares and Proaño wrote in the letter.
The Lulac leaders asked the DOJ to take “immediate action” and conduct a “thorough investigation” into Paxton’s actions.
Last week, state agents from Paxton’s election fraud unit executed search warrants of at least six Latino organizers across three Texas counties. Paxton said the searches were necessary to secure state elections and help ensure “accountability for anyone committing election crimes.”
Lulac alleged Paxton’s searches are a violation of the Voting Rights Act and other federal civil rights laws. “We’re not going to stop just because they come in and raid a few of our houses,” Lulac state director Gabriel Rosales told reporters.
Individuals targeted in the raids spoke with news outlets last week to recount the experience. Manuel Medina, former chair of the Bexar County Democratic Party, told The Texas Tribune that authorities broke down his door and pointed “six assault semiautomatic weapons in my face.”
The Tribune reported last week that state agents spent seven hours in Medina’s home, leaving with 65 cellphones, 41 computers, and documents, including family photos, according to a legal filing.
Paxton’s office maintains the searches follow a two-year investigation, as part of a broader push by Paxton to prosecute election fraud.
The office said its election integrity unit was looking into a referral from District Attorney Audrey Louis, a conservative Republican, over allegations of ballot harvesting.
Democrats lambasted the searches, alleging they are intimidation of primarily Latino and Balck voters.
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