Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia Joins Colleagues in Urging Justice Department to Investigate Raids of Latino Organizers and Volunteers in Texas

HOUSTON, TX - Today, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29) joined ten of her colleagues in the Texas Congressional Delegation in a letter calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice to investigate incidents of voter suppression and intimidation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

"It's outrageous Ken Paxton continues to use his office to advance his own personal agenda as he seeks to curry favor with the former president. The recent raids on Latino activists, volunteers, and political operatives in Texas are all about making sure extreme MAGA Republicans begin disrupting the upcoming elections early on," said Congresswoman Garcia.

"As a lawyer and former judge, I can tell you that all we need is for Attorney General Merrick Garland to look, and he'll find Paxton is overstepping his authority in so many ways. We must put a stop to this. The Justice Department must carry out a full investigation to ensure Paxton does not interfere with our elections, because it is he who is interfering by suggesting there is widespread voter fraud in the state of Texas without putting forward a shred of evidence," concluded Congresswoman Garcia.

The letter co-led by Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-TX-16) and Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20) cites urgent concerns following raids on several members of the nation's oldest Latino civil rights organization, LULAC, at the direction of AG Paxton, as well as concerns over Governor Abbott's push to remove thousands of individuals from voter rolls with little transparency. Lawmakers are asking the Justice Department to investigate these actions for violations of the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act.

"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 devises including computers, tablets, and cell phones," the members wrote.

"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 members concluded.

In addition to Reps. Veronica Escobar, Joaquin Castro, and Sylvia Garcia, the letter was also signed by Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-37), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30), Greg Casar (D-TX-35), Al Green (D-TX-09), Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX-07), Marc Veasey (D-TX-33), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-34), and Colin Allred (D-TX-32).

Last week, members of the Texas delegation held a press call on the concerns raised in the letter. A full recording of the call can be found here.