SAN ANTONIO — Raids on the homes of several Democrats in South Texas, in what the state’s attorney general described as an ongoing investigation into election integrity, have led to a confrontation with the nation’s oldest Hispanic civil rights group.
The August 20 raids targeted Tejano Democrats Chairman Manuel Medina, several members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a state House candidate and a county mayor.
The raids sparked outrage and accusations of voter suppression in a state with a long history of discrimination against citizens of Mexican descent, leading to the creation of LULAC in 1929.
On Monday morning, LULAC leaders, state lawmakers, activists from other Latino groups and their supporters, and some people whose homes had been searched protested outside the San Antonio office of Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican.
“This is outright voter intimidation, and LULAC will fight for every Latino’s right to vote,” said Roman Palomares, LULAC national president.
A copy of a sweeping search warrant left at the home of one of the targeted individuals, LULAC volunteer Lidia Martinez, 87, of San Antonio, offered a glimpse into the stakes of the investigation. The warrant ordered the seizure of all electronic devices in her home, authorized the release of documents related to business, organizations or elections, and authorized the collection of DNA. According to the warrant, the purpose of the search was to search for evidence of violations of Texas election laws related to vote harvesting and identity fraud.
Medina’s home was also “forcibly entered” in the early morning of Aug. 20. According to a filing by his attorney, officers woke Medina, his wife and two young daughters and “ransacked the residence for seven hours,” the attorney said, searching the family’s living areas, closets, kitchen, bathrooms, garage and bedrooms. Officers seized 65 cellphones and 41 computers and storage devices, the filing said.
Medina’s attorney was granted his request for an injunction to block the attorney general or other state officials from reviewing or distributing the documents. A hearing on the search and seizures was set for Sept. 12.
In the petition seeking a court order, Medina’s attorney wrote that authorities seized nearly 65 cellphones and 41 computers, digital and other storage devices, papers, documents, and family and other photographs.
The attorney and Medina declined to comment when contacted by NBC News on Friday.
“There is no poll tax. There is no white-only primary. There is no going back. We are not going back,” said Domingo Garcia, former chair of LULAC, at Monday’s protest. Garcia now heads a newly formed LULAC political action committee that endorsed Kamala Harris.
Paxton, who announced the raids in a press release on Thursday, has been outspoken in his claims of unsubstantiated voter fraud, particularly involving non-citizens casting ballots in the upcoming election.
“There’s a reason Joe Biden brought people here illegally,” Paxton said on a radio show earlier this month. “I’m convinced that’s how they’re going to do it this time, they’re going to use the illegal vote. Why did they bring them here, why did he bring 14 million people here? He brought them here to vote.”
Paxton falsely claimed that immigrants were also given Social Security numbers at the border as part of the plan. There is no evidence of this, or that non-citizens voted in significant numbers.
In the press release announcing the raids, Paxton said his office would not comment further on the investigation. NBC News reached out Friday and has not yet received a response.
Latino leaders have called on the Justice Department to investigate, claiming the raids are a political move to suppress Latino votes. A Justice Department spokesperson said they are aware of the matter but declined to comment.
“It is outrageous and shameful that the state of Texas and its top law enforcement official are once again using the power of his office to strike fear into the hearts of community members who volunteer their time to promote civic engagement,” said Gabriel Rosales, Texas state executive director of LULAC, which focuses on the economic, political and civil rights of Latinos.
“I have been contacted by elderly residents who are confused and scared and wonder why they were singled out. Attorney General Paxton’s actions are clearly aimed at suppressing the Latino vote through intimidation and any means possible to influence the electoral process in favor of his political allies,” he added.
Cecilia Castellano, a candidate for House District 80, said she was served a search warrant for her phone just after 6 a.m., the same day as the others. Medina works on Castellano’s campaign.
“I was still asleep and woke up to my doorbell and then a loud knock,” she later told NBC News. “I went up front [door] and I’ve been shining these flashlights in my house.”
The officer gave Castellano a copy of the search warrant and left with her work phone.
Castellano said she saw the search as political intimidation, adding that she was told that two other people who had volunteered for her campaign had been served search warrants. She said she has never helped people register to vote or vote by mail, and she was not sure what she was being investigated for.
Nine armed officers at the door
Martinez had gotten up early as usual to water her plants. When she knocked on the door at 6 a.m., a group of armed men and women entered, carrying police badges, riot shields and a search warrant, she told NBC News.
Still in her nightgown, Martinez asked to change. Instead, she said, she was forced to sit in her dining room and answer questions as the officers rummaged through nearly everything in her two-bedroom home for four hours. Two of the officers kept an eye on her.
“They searched everything. My underwear, my bras, my nightgowns, everything,” said Martinez, a 35-year-old LULAC member. “They went into my garage. They opened my car. They searched my whole car, my whole garage, my refrigerator, my kitchen cabinets, everything.”
During the press conference, Martinez said she had to stand outside her home for about a half hour, still in her nightgown, so neighbors could see her as officers searched her dining room.
She said they wouldn’t tell her what they were looking for and that they interrogated her for four hours, asking her about Manuel Medina and when she started working at LULAC, among other things.
They left with her diary, cell phone, laptop, blank voter registration cards and her certificate for completing a voter registration course.
During the press conference, Martinez said nine people were at her door to execute the search warrant. She said her family has asked her to stop volunteering at LULAC and all efforts to register to vote because they fear she will go to jail.
“I grew up on the west side of San Antonio. My dad owned two grocery stores and he taught us the right to vote,” said Martinez, a San Antonio native. She added that she had five brothers who served in the armed forces, including one who was killed in Vietnam and earned the Silver Star. Martinez is a commander in the American Legion.
“They are trying to prevent us from registering voters and especially helping the elderly,” she said.
“If I don’t go out and their voter registration is expired, some of them are in wheelchairs. They have no way to get to the election office” to get registration forms, Martinez said.
Mary Ann Obregon, mayor of Dilley, about 71 miles south of San Antonio, said her dogs’ barking alerted her to two officers who showed up at her house and demanded her phone when she stepped outside. She said she didn’t get a search warrant until Monday after they followed her as she retrieved her phone.
“When they left, I got really emotional,” she said. “I cried.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
