LULAC wants federal probe after Texas AG launches raids on Latino rights organizers

Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The League of United Latin American Citizens on Monday called on the Department of Justice to launch an investigation of Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton into searches described by the group as an "election political tactic."

The group said the searches were a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1963.

"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 Monday in San Antonio.

On Wednesday , state agents from the Texas attorney general's election fraud unit executed search warrants of at least six Latino rights organizers across three counties. Also searched were the homes of state House candidate Cecilia Castellano and Dilley Mayor Mary Ann Obregon, both Democrats.

Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement said the searches were a necessary step to secure state elections, which he called "the cornerstone of our republic."

The organizers are calling the investigation a campaign of "intimidation."

"There is no poll tax. There is no white-only primary. There is no going back. We will not go back," Domingo Garcia, LULAC's former president, said during Monday's protest .

Garcia leads a recently formed LULAC political action committee that endorsed Kamala Harris for president.

Paxton's office announced the raids Thursday in a five paragraph news release , noting allegations of election fraud and vote harvesting that occurred during the 2022 elections.

"We are completely committed to protecting the security of the ballot box and the integrity of every legal vote," he said in the news release. "This means ensuring accountability for anyone committing election crimes."

Paxton said on a radio show earlier this month : "There's a reason Joe Biden brought people here illegally. 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 in 14 million people? He brought them here to vote."

Searches were conducted in Democratic stronghold Bexar County, which includes San Antonio. Searches also were conducted in Frio and Atascosa counties.

Agents seized the cellphone of Castellano, a Democratic running for the state House seat in the Laredo area now held by state Rep. Tracy King, also a Democrat, who is retiring. She was served the search warrant just after 6 a.m.

"I was still asleep and I was woken up by my doorbell and then a hard knock," she told NBC News . "I went to the front [door] and I have these flashlights flashing into my home."

Castellano told The Texas Tribune she was targeted because Republicans need to take the seat.

"I feel like I've been violated," Castellano said. "This political tactic is because the Republicans are vying for this seat. They want full power of the House. And we are not going to give up. We are going to continue to work hard."

Court records obtained by The Texas Tribune show authorities who searched the homes of Castello and a legislative aide were investigating allegations that a longtime Frio County political operator had illegally harvested votes for several local races.

LULAC volunteer Lidia Martinez, 87, of San Antonio, said nine people had shown up at her door to execute the search warrant.

"They searched everything. My underwear, my brassieres, my nightgowns, everything," Martinez, a 35-year LULAC member, said. "They went into my garage. They opened up my car. They went through my whole car, my whole garage, my refrigerator, my kitchen cabinets, everything."

Former Bexar County Democratic Party chairman Manuel Medina told The Texas Tribune that authorities broke down his door and pointed "six assault semi-automatic weapons in my face."

The Tribune reported 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.

"Crooked Ken Paxton is targeting Latinos and terrorizing seniors in my district," state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat, wrote on X .

The attorney general led an effort to get the Supreme Court to throw out ballots from battleground states crucial in Donald Trump 's 2020 loss. The high court threw out the case.

Paxton wants to keep access to mail-in ballots restricted to those disabled or over the age of 65. The conservative-dominated Supreme Court declined to hear a Democratic party challenge to the state law.

In 2022, the state's Court of Criminal Appeals ruled it unconstitutional for Paxton to conduct election integrity prosecutions without the aid of a local prosecutor.

In March , federal prosecutors agreed to drop securities fraud charges facing Paxton if he performs 100 hours of community service and fulfills other conditions of a pretrial agreement. The nine-year-old felony case has loomed over the Republican. He was re-elected to his third term in 2022.

In September 2023, the Republican-controlled Texas Senate acquitted him of 16 impeachment charges centered on allegations that he accepted bribes and abused the authority of his office to help a wealthy friend and campaign donor.

Four of his former top deputies argue that Paxton improperly fired them in 2020 for reporting him to the FBI.