The country’s oldest Latin American civil rights organization, LULACis one of several Texas agencies targeted in voter fraud raids led by Attorney General Ken Paxton, CBS News has learned.

In a letter first obtained by CBS News, LULAC asked the Justice Department to investigate Paxton’s office for violations of the Voting Rights Act. The organization accuses Paxton’s office of conducting illegal searches based on voter fraud.

“These actions reflect a troubling history of voter suppression and intimidation that has long targeted both the Black and Latino communities, particularly in states like Texas where demographic changes are increasingly reshaping the political landscape,” LULAC CEO Juan Proaño and the group’s national president Roman Palomares said in the letter.

The Justice Department confirmed receipt of the letter and declined to comment further.

Last week, Paxton’s office announced in a press release that it had launched an undercover operation and investigation into reports that some Texas organizations were unlawfully registering non-citizens to vote, in violation of state and federal law.

LULAC officials told CBS News that some members of the group in Texas were targeted and had their laptops and cellphones seized by Texas authorities executing search warrants. Some of the raids targeted Latino activists across the state.

“Attorney General Paxton is using his position of authority to intimidate and harass Latino nonprofits like LULAC, Latino Leaders and LULAC members,” Juan Proaño, CEO of LULAC, told CBS News. He called the attorney general’s efforts “direct” voter intimidation. “It is clear from his pattern of lawsuits, raids, searches and seizures that he is attempting to prevent Latinos from voting.”

Proaño said one of the targets was Lidia Martinez, an 87-year-old woman who lives in San Antonio. Martinez has been a member of LULAC for more than 35 years and works to expand voter registration among seniors and veterans in South Texas.

She said she got a knock on her door last Tuesday morning and was greeted by nine officers in tactical gear and carrying firearms who said they were executing a search warrant. Martinez was questioned for more than three hours about her efforts to register to vote in Texas.

According to Martinez, police seized her phone, computer, personal diary, blank voter registration forms and her certificate for conducting voter registration.

“This is a free country, this is not Russia,” Martinez said at a news conference Monday condemning the raid.

Manuel Medina, the chairman of the Tejano Democrats, is another LULAC member who was targeted, the LULAC CEO said. According to LULAC officials, Medina’s home was searched last Thursday by officers in riot gear, who were armed and broke down his door.

Paxton’s office said in its press release that it would continue to conduct undercover operations led by its Election Integrity Unit. The Texas Attorney General’s Office said it had received a referral from 81st District Attorney Audrey Louis regarding “allegations of election fraud and vote harvesting that occurred during the 2022 election.” The press release added that a two-year investigation “produced sufficient evidence to obtain the search warrants.”

This unit was created after Trump’s attack. Loss in 2020 elections to President Biden and aimed to investigate alleged voter fraud across the state, even though Trump administration officials said the election Certainly.

“My office investigates every credible report we receive of potential criminal activity that could jeopardize the integrity of our elections,” Paxton said. “The Biden-Harris administration has deliberately flooded our country with illegal aliens, and without proper safeguards, aliens can illegally influence elections at the local, state, and national levels.”

Robert Legare contributed to this report.