SAN ANTONIO — Members of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) held a news conference Monday, Aug 26, to respond to allegations by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton related to assisting community members with voter registration.
LULAC says Paxton's Elections Integrity Unit conducted raids at the homes of some of the volunteers, including one woman in her 80s.
On Wednesday, Paxton said he launched an investigation into reports that organizations may be illegally registering non-citizens to vote during the 2022 elections. He said booths had been set up outside DPS offices around South Texas. The raids took place in Bexar, Atascosa and Frio counties.
Monday, organization leaders and some of the people whose homes were raided gathered in front of AG Paxton's San Antonio offices on San Pedro to describe their experience and respond to the allegations.
Lydia Martinez, a volunteer and great-grandmother in her 80s, was woken up in the early morning hours on Tuesday. She said nine law enforcement agents searched her home and questioned her for hours.
"After two hours of questioning, they took me outside in front of all of my neighbors for half an hour while they searched the living room where I had been sitting. They continued to question me, asking about LULAC members," Martinez said. "I said, 'what do you want from me? I am an old lady, all I do is help the seniors.'"
LULAC leadership staff said agents questioned Martinez on whether she filled out registration forms for people. LULAC, the nation's oldest and largest Hispanic and Latin American civil rights organization, says its volunteers help work with voters to make sure they know their rights and they do not fill out forms for them. They say Paxton's raids are politically motivated and are designed to suppress votes.
At least six members had their homes searched, according to LULAC National President Roman Palomares. They included Manuel Medina, a San Antonio political consultant, who claimed his home was searched for several hours while agents seized documents, computers and cellphones. Medina is the former head of the Bexar County Democratic Party and is working on the campaign of Democratic state House candidate Cecilia Castellano, whose home was also searched.
No charges have been filed against any targets of the searches, according to the Associated Press.
LULAC is asking the US Dept. of Justice and the FBI to investigate Paxton and his agents for abuse of the elderly, children, violations of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1963.
Ken Paxton said in a news release that his office would not answer any further questions about the investigation.
This follows Paxton's lawsuit against Latino civil rights nonprofit FIEL. The lawsuit accuses them of electioneering, or taking part in politics, after it claims they made comments opposing Trump and Texas legislation. A Harris County judge blocked the lawsuit against the Houston-based group.