Right here in America
One of the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organizations is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into a recent spate of state raids on the homes of Latino elected leaders, candidates and political operatives in South Texas.
State investigators tied to state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office executed search warrants last week at homes across three counties,as part of what Paxton said wasa two-year investigation of alleged fraud and vote harvesting.
The Republican officeholder said in a statement that his office had “sufficient evidence” to confiscate cellphones, laptops and documents. Paxton’s office targeted a Democratic legislative candidate in a swing district important to state Republicans,her political consultant, campaign workers, a local mayor and a city council member in raids on their small-town homes.
Neither Paxton nor the Department of Justice responded to questions Monday.
“We did nothing wrong,” said Mary Ann Obregón, 80, the mayor of Dilley, Tex.,and one of the workerswho recalled being threatened with arrest if she didn’t hand over her cellphone. “That’s what’s eating at us. It is an insult.”
Obregón was one of four Latina women, three of whom were in their 70s and 80s, who said they were intimidated by the morning visits from armed investigators while they were still in their pajamas. Lidia Martinez, an 87-year-old retired educator, and Inelda Rodriguez, 73, a Dilley City Council member, were forced to turn over their phones and laptops.
“It was horrible, gestapo-style,” said Martinez, who added that investigators spent three hours searching her drawers and garage during the raid. “I thought we lived in a free country, not Russia.”
The fact that it was ordered by an actual criminal, Ken Paxton, who narrowly escaped impeachment makes iit just perfect.
It’s happening.