September 06, 2024

Congressman Castro and Congresswoman Escobar Lead Call for Justice Department to Investigate State-Sponsored Voter Intimidation and Suppression in Texas

SAN ANTONIO AND EL PASO, TEXAS — Today, Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) led nine of their colleagues in the Texas Congressional Delegation in a letter urging Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice to investigate recent incidents of voter suppression and intimidation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott. The letter was additionally signed by Reps. 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).

“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. 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,” 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.

On Wednesday, members of the Texas delegation held a press call about the concerns raised in today’s letter. A full recording of the press conference can be found here.

The full text of today’s letter can be found here.