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.
On Monday morning, LULAC leaders, state legislators, activists of other Latino groups and supporters and some of the people whose homes were raided protested outside the San Antonio office of Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican.
“This is point blank voter intimidation, and LULAC will fight for the right of every Latino to exercise the right to vote,” said Roman Palomares, LULAC's national president.
