The raids have triggered outrage and cries of voter suppression in a state with a long history of discrimination against citizens of Mexican descent, which helped give rise to LULAC.
SAN ANTONIO — Raids on the homes of several Democrats in South Texas, in what the state attorney general said is an ongoing election integrity investigation, has set off a showdown with the nation’s oldest Latino civil rights group.
The Aug. 20 raids targeted Manuel Medina, chair of the Tejano Democrats, several members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a state House candidate and a local area mayor.
The raids have triggered outrage and accusations of voter suppression in a state with a long history of discrimination against its citizens of Mexican descent, which gave rise to LULAC in 1929.
A copy of a wide-ranging search warrant left with one of the people targeted, LULAC volunteer Lidia Martinez, 87, of San Antonio, offered a window into the investigation’s interests. The warrant ordered the seizure of all electronic devices at her home, allowed for the opening of documents that were business-, organization- or election-related, and authorized swabbing for DNA. According to the warrant, the purpose of the search was to look for evidence of violations of the Texas election laws regarding vote harvesting and identity fraud.
Medina’s home was also “forcibly entered” in the early morning of Aug. 20. According to a filing from his attorney, officers woke up Medina, his wife and two young daughters, and “rummaged through the residence” for seven hours, the attorney said, searching through the living spaces, closets, kitchen, bathrooms, garage and the family’s bedrooms. Officers seized 65 cellphones and 41 computers and storage devices, the filing said.