Several U.S. House members representing Texas are the latest voices to urge the Department of Justice to investigate corrupt Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for any potential civil rights violations following his despicable intimidation of Latino voters, including raiding the home of 87-year-old great-grandmother Lidia Martinez. The Democratic lawmakers expect to submit an official letter to the department soon.
“We know very well that the attorney general has used his office historically as a way of pursuing political efforts,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, who opened the virtual press conference on Wednesday. “From my perspective, he has a history of misusing his power.”
Last week, shocking reporting revealed that Paxton used the completely bogus noncitizen voter fraud lie as an excuse to raid the homes of several elderly voters, including Ms. Martinez, who has spent years educating seniors and veterans in her community on voting registration. The retired educator heard a knock at the door of her Austin home and thought a neighbor might be coming to borrow some eggs.
Instead, it was armed officers who searched her panty drawer and other personal items for evidence of wrongdoing. “I asked them why they were there and they said because of voter fraud,” Ms. Martinez later said. “And I said I’m not guilty of that.”
In @GovAbbott’s world dumping 1.1M Texans from the voter rolls is “election integrity” but an 87 year old women helping people vote is a criminal threat to democracy that deserves a SWAT raid.
Texas Republicans are desperate to hang on to power. pic.twitter.com/Fz9N3VjxWT
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 28, 2024
During Wednesday’s virtual press event, House lawmakers including Escobar, Joaquin Castro, Lloyd Doggett, Sylvia Garcia, and Al Green “chastised Paxton’s effort as an attempt to disincentivize citizens from registering to vote and a continuation of civil and voting rights violations that have been endured by Latinos in Texas for decades,” as the Austin American-Statesman reported. They called for urgent action from the Justice Department, noting that Paxton’s harassment comes as groups like LULAC are gearing up eligible voters in the final stretch to Election Day.
“They’re trying to scare new people off from voting,” Rep. Castro said. “If somebody sees on the news, ‘oh well, somebody got prosecuted because they tried to help their neighbor get a mail ballot delivered or put in the mail or something,’ then it’s more likely that new people, or some new people at least, will get scared off and say, ‘I don’t want to make a mistake, I don’t want to do something that’s going to get me in trouble, and so I’m just not going to go vote. I don’t want to hassle with something that might get me in legal trouble.’”
“So they’re trying to win elections and hang onto power by scaring people, by intimidating them, and by doing everything they can to suppress the vote in Texas,” Rep. Castro continued.
In her remarks, Rep. Garcia said Paxton “is once again using his office to enact a personal, political vendetta against Texas Democrats and Latino groups he disagrees with,” noting his ongoing harassment of faith-based migrant aid organizations.
Last year, Paxton was impeached by the state house on charges of bribery, unfitness for office, and abuse of public trust (but avoided removal in the state senate) and previously faced trial on securities fraud charges until reaching a plea deal agreement in March. “All he knows how to do is play cheap political games at the expense of Texas taxpayers, and we know he’ll break the law or violate all codes of ethics for his own political gain,” Rep. Garcia continued. “This is right out of a dictator’s playbook, going after those with whom you disagree.”
The Senate Democratic Caucus requested the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate possible violations of the voting rights of Texans. We are steadfast in our commitment to protect your basic rights and freedom to vote. @TheJusticeDept pic.twitter.com/AdFB4ZR1AU
— Molly Cook for Texas (@MollyforTexas) August 30, 2024
Their call to the Justice Department follows an August 30 letter from a group of state Democratic legislators who said that these recent harassment and intimidation tactics stand to “have a disproportionate impact on Latinos and other communities of color.” They urged the Justice Department “to investigate Texas for potential violations of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, and any other relevant federal laws, and to take all necessary action to protect the fundamental rights of all Texans and ensure all citizens’ freedom to vote is unencumbered.”
We should all care about Paxton’s despicable tactics because they pose a threat to voters far beyond the elderly Texans he’s targeted. Despite being long-debunked, Paxton is using lies about immigrants voting to undermine confidence in our elections and scare Black, Brown, and naturalized U.S. citizens everywhere from exercising their right to vote, as Senators Alex Padilla, Catherine Cortez Masto, Mazie Hirono, and Ben Ray Luján said in their August 29 letter to the Justice Department.
Paxton’s fictitious voter fraud claims “fit into a long history of weaponizing the government to suppress the vote and intimidate voters of color in our country,” the senators wrote. “The decision to target only Latino candidates and voting rights organizers, including elderly volunteers dedicated to helping their community exercise their rights, demonstrates that this is just the latest attempt to scare minority communities out of using their political voice.”
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