SAN ANTONIO – Raids at the homes of several South Texas Democrats have sparked a confrontation with the nation’s oldest Latino civil rights group in what the state attorney general says is an ongoing election integrity investigation.
The Aug. 20 raids targeted Manuel Medina, chairman of the Tejano Democratic Party, several members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a state House candidate and a local mayor.
The raids sparked outrage and accusations of voter suppression in a state with a long history of discrimination against Mexican-born citizens who helped found LULAC in 1929.
On Monday morning, LULAC leaders and some of the people whose homes were raided protested outside the San Antonio office of Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“This is voter intimidation, and LULAC will fight for every Latino’s right to vote,” said Roman Palomares, LULAC’s national president.
A copy of the extensive search warrant left with one of those targeted, 87-year-old LULAC volunteer Lidia Martinez of San Antonio, offered a window into the investigation’s interests. The order ordered the confiscation of all electronic devices in his home, authorized the disclosure of documents related to a business, organization or election, and authorized DNA testing. According to the document, the purpose of the search was to look for evidence of violations of Texas election laws related to vote counting and identity fraud.
On August 20, early in the morning, Medina’s house was “entered by force”. Officers woke Medina, his wife and two young daughters and “randomized the residence” for seven hours, according to his attorney’s filing. he said, searching the living quarters, closets, kitchen, bathrooms, garage and the family’s bedrooms. According to the information, the officers confiscated 65 mobile phones and 41 computers and memory devices.
The lawyer’s appeal seeks to prevent the attorney general from reviewing the documents.
“There is no poll tax. There is only a white base. There is no going back. We’re not going back,” former LULAC president Domingo Garcia said during Monday’s protest. Garcia now heads the recently formed LULAC political action committee, which endorsed Kamala Harris.
Paxton, who announced the raids on Thursday, has been outspoken in making unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud, particularly about citizens voting in the upcoming election.
“There’s a reason Joe Biden is bringing people here illegally,” Paxton said he said on a radio show earlier this month. “I am sure that this time they will do it like this, they will use illegal voting. Why did they bring 14 million people? He brought them here to vote.”
Paxton falsely He claimed that immigrants were also given social security numbers at the border as part of the scheme. There is no evidence of this or that non-citizens voted in significant numbers.
In a statement announcing the raids, Paxton said his office would not comment further on the investigation. NBC News reached out Friday and has not received a response.
Latino leaders have called for a Justice Department investigation and say the raids are a political move to suppress the Latino vote.
“It is shameful and abhorrent that the state of Texas and its highest law enforcement agency are once again using the power of their office to strike fear into the hearts of community members who volunteer their time to promote civic activism,” he said. Gabriel Rosales, Texas State Director of LULAC, which focuses on Latino economic, political and civil rights.
“I’ve had elderly residents contact me, confused and scared, asking why they were singled out. “Attorney General Paxton’s actions clearly target the Latino vote by intimidation and by any means necessary to tilt the electoral process in favor of his political allies,” he added.
Cecilia Castellano, a candidate for the 80th District of the State House, said she was served a search warrant for her phone just after 6 a.m. the same day as the others.
“I was still asleep and I woke up to the doorbell ringing and then I got a loud bang,” he later told NBC News. “I went to the front [door] and these lanterns flash into my house.”
The officer shared a copy of the search warrant with Castellano and left on his business phone.
Castellano said he felt the search was political intimidation, adding that warrants were issued for two other people who volunteered for his campaign. He said he’s never helped people register to vote or vote by mail, and he’s not sure what’s being investigated.
As usual to water his plants, Martinez answered a knock on his door at 6 a.m. and left with a group of armed men and women with police badges and riot shields and a search warrant, NBC News said.
Still in her nightgown, Martinez asked to change clothes. Instead, he said he was forced to sit in the dining room and answer questions while agents rummaged through nearly everything in his two-bedroom home for four hours. Two of the officers stood guard over him.
“They searched everything. My underwear, bras, nightgowns, everything, Martinez said. “They broke into my garage. They opened my car. They went through my entire car, entire garage, refrigerator, kitchen cabinets, everything.”
He said they wouldn’t tell him what they were looking for and questioned him for four hours, asking Manuel Medina and when he joined LULAC.
They left with his appointment book, mobile phone, laptop, blank voter registration cards and voter registration course completion certificate.
At a news conference, Martinez said nine people showed up at his door to execute a search warrant. He said his family asked him to stop volunteering with LULAC as well as voter registration efforts because they feared he would be arrested.