SAN ANTONIO – In the three weeks since the Texas attorney general’s office raided the homes of several Latino suffrage activiststhe state’s oldest civil rights organization is rallying its members to speed up voter registration as they say they oppose voter suppression.
Local chapters of the League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC, are calling for volunteers to get certified so they can register Texas Latinos and other voters. Next week, LULAC’s national office plans to begin a get-out-the-vote campaign using 535 local councils in 33 states.
“Our members have gone from shock to outrage to resolve and are redoubling their commitment to registering voters and getting them to the polls,” LULAC CEO Juan Proaño told NBC News.
Paxton ordered raids with armed officers on August 20. An ongoing investigation into vote fraud through the illegal collection and processing of mail-in ballots and ballot applications, according to his office and the South Texas district attorney’s office.
No charges have been filed and no indictments have been filed in the two-year investigation that began when a Frio County Democrat complained to the district attorney about “ballot rigging” after losing the 2022 election. for a search warrant signed in March.
A hearing was held Thursday on whether investigators have the right to view all documents and electronic devices seized during a raid on the home of LULAC member and Tejano Democratic Party chairman Juan Manuel Medina. Medina’s lawyer claimed that the computers, phones and other digital devices contained privileged information unrelated to the investigation.
Medina’s attorney, Gerald Goldstein, told the court that officers who arrived at Medina’s home in the early hours of the morning “broke down the front door,” adding, “There was glass everywhere.” Their weapons were drawn.” Medina’s young daughters were there, and the family had to climb out through glass during the seven-hour search. Medina did not comment on his lawyer’s advice.
A contingent of LULAC members and other Hispanic activists attended the hearing in support of Medina.
The raids, as in previous elections, created trauma and fear among those targeted and activists working locally to register and select voters in this election.
Lidia Martinez, 87, a longtime LULAC member whose home was searched by nine officers in her nightgown, said Thursday that she had suspended all campaign activities on the advice of her attorney and at the request of her family. Officers also seized a state certificate showing he had completed the training required to become an MP each year to hand over voter registration and registration.
Martinez reached out to seniors at LULAC, but she also organized social events for area seniors, including a Valentine’s Day gathering. He was working on a fundraiser for the GI Forum, another Latino civil rights organization created to help veterans, and another social event when his home was raided.
Officers took her phone, and although she changed her phone, she said the seniors she helped and brought together couldn’t contact her because they didn’t have a new phone number.
“It’s like I’m not in America,” Martinez said outside court.
Texas LULAC President Gabriel Rosales said in a phone interview that the raids, in addition to fear, “lit the fire for Hispanics around Texas. We hear from all sides.”
“No hay mal que por bien no venga,” Rosales said, echoing a phrase his mother told him, similar to the phrase “when a door closes, a window opens.”
Roman Peña, 86, commander American GI ForumA historic Latino and veteran civil rights group formed in Texas said Martinez will step in to do what he can no longer do. He said that he has been engaged in voter registration for years.
Members of LULAC’s local councils in San Antonio and Houston said they are planning voter registration drives this weekend.
For its national campaign starting next week, LULAC plans to provide all local councils with information and resources about your rights to help people register, find polling places and ensure their voter registrations are active. The launch coincides with National Voter Registration Day, which is Tuesday, Proaño said.
The group had begun working on a national voter campaign before the raids, but they served to increase the group’s focus and intent, he said.
“Councils have redoubled their efforts to engage Latino voters in Texas and across the country,” Proaño said. “Our oldest members are very angry about what happened to Lydia [Martinez]they’re going to do it.”
LULAC was founded in Texas in 1929 by Mexican Americans, mostly middle- and upper-class citizens and World War I veterans. the group protested discrimination, educational inequity, voter suppression, and anti-Latino racism. Its founders sought to emphasize that its members and many people of Mexican descent in Texas and other parts of the country should be seen and treated as Americans.
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