HOUSTON — LULAC, the nation's oldest and largest Hispanic and Latin American civil rights organization, is pushing back against the Texas Attorney General's Office after some of its members had their houses raided.
The issue of election integrity was part of the discussion at the state capitol during a committee hearing on Monday.
LULAC leaders called for a federal investigation into the searches they said were directed by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
LULAC said some of the members who had their homes searched earlier this month were in their 80s. The searches happened in Frio, Atascosa and Brexas counties, among others.
"Law enforcement seized her iPhone, computer, personal calendar and blank voter registration forms," a speaker at the news conference said.
Paxton had announced search warrants were carried out by his office's Election Integrity Unit in multiple counties earlier this month. The attorney general said the searches were part of an investigation into alleged election fraud and voter harvesting from 2022 and that there was sufficient evidence for the search warrants.
LULAC said it wants the FBI and the United States Department of Justice to look into the actions of the AG's office.
It all comes as Paxton and other state Republican leaders have been pushing concerns and claims over voter integrity issues.
LULAC leaders told KHOU 11 News on Monday that they're concerned that there's little concrete evidence of widespread voter issues.
"This is a political maneuver because of the timing of it. It's only 70 days before the presidential election. They have been investigating these allegations of voter fraud for two years, so why go after them now? It seems very, very strategically and politically motivated," Greater Houston LULAC 4967 President Sergio Lira said.
LULAC said it's not yet aware of specific allegations and the searches were politically motivated.
"Paxton's M.O. is, two months before an election, he alleges election voter fraud," Domingo Garciao, with LULAC, said. "People arrested or people are searched, the charges are dropped afterward after they've done the intent of voter suppression and voter intimidation and that is all this is."