news

Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) co-led a letter with 9 of their colleagues urging the Department of Justice to investigate the voter intimidation actions of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. This letter is sent in addition to a separate letter co-led by Representatives Escobar, Jerry Nadler (NY-12), and Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05).

“We write to you with urgent concerns over recent actions undertaken at the direction of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to raid the homes of activists, volunteers, and political operatives in South Texas and the San Antonio area and Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts to remove thousands of individuals from voter rolls with little transparency,” the lawmakers began. “We are concerned that these actions are intended to intimidate American citizens, in particular Latinos and members of minority communities, from exercising their right to vote through political persecution or deny them that right altogether. We request that the Department investigate these actions, including for violations of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act, and take any necessary action to prevent further interference with the rights of voters in the state of Texas.”

They continued, “Under the guise of conducting an election integrity investigation, AG Paxton recently authorized raids at the homes of primarily Latino activists, volunteers, and political operatives in South Texas and the San Antonio area. The raids were conducted by the Election Integrity Unit within the Texas AG’s office, which AG Paxton created following the 2020 Presidential election amidst false claims of voter fraud from the losing candidate. Agents were reportedly instructed to seize all election-related material and confiscate devices including computers, tablets, and cell phones.”

“While states’ Attorneys General have the right to investigate unlawful behavior and those suspected of it within their states, AG Paxton’s targeting of Latino activists, volunteers, and operatives raises concerns about potential ulterior motives behind these actions, particularly in a state like Texas, where state legislators and leaders like Governor Greg Abbott and AG Paxton have worked to actively undermine minority voices at the ballot box,” the lawmakers added.“In 2022, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that AG Paxton does not have the authority to unilaterally prosecute election cases and must first receive permission from local county prosecutors to pursue cases such as voter fraud.”

“Furthermore, AG Paxton has a well-established pattern of using the power of the Attorney General’s office to target companies, organizations, and communities that do not align with his personal or political views,” they wrote. “Earlier this year, AG Paxton attempted to shut down Annunciation House, a decades-old nonprofit in El Paso, by falsely accusing the Director and staff of operating a stash house; in Houston, AG Paxton attempted to shut down local immigrant rights group Immigrant Families and Students in the Fight (FIEL) for allegedly violating nonprofit rules. Given the Attorney General’s history of misusing his power, we believe it is imperative that the Department investigate these raids as potential civil rights violations and potential interference with Latinos’ right to vote fairly and freely.”

“At the same time as these concerning actions by AG Paxton, Governor Abbott has pursued the removal of thousands of individuals from voter rolls in Texas, including over 6,500 purported ‘noncitizens.’ There is little to no transparency in how Governor Abbott has assessed these individuals to be ‘potential noncitizens,’ and we fear these decisions may be made on the basis of those individuals’ perceived race or ethnicity and may deny American citizens their right to vote,” the lawmakers concluded.

Congresswoman Escobar and Congressman Castro are joined by Representatives Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Greg Casar (TX-35), Al Green (TX-09), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-34), and Colin Allred (TX-32).

The full text of the letter can be found here.