The League of United Latin American Citizens, whose volunteers were the target of raids in a voter fraud inquiry in Texas over the summer, on Friday said it had teamed up with a super PAC led by Democratic strategists to push back on Republican-led efforts to limit their activities and those of voting rights activists across the country.
Their first step: Debunk the conspiracy theories that they say have led to the wave of restrictions on voting-rights actions.
In a report first obtained by The New York Times, leaders of the group, known as LULAC, and the Democratic super PAC contend that former President Donald J. Trump and his allies are building on the lie that the 2020 election was stolen with the falsehood that noncitizen voters are unlawfully casting ballots in widespread numbers. The baseless allegations, they say, are laying the groundwork to claim victory, regardless of who wins the presidential election.
The report explains the laws that prohibit undocumented immigrants from casting ballots and recommends legal and congressional measures to challenge restrictive laws. It also reframes the conspiracy theories as an attack on democracy itself, saying the impact of the claim about undocumented immigrant voting, which it calls the “Second Big Lie,” is likely to last beyond the 2024 election.
“It will worsen political divisions in our already divided nation; and it will continue to create the pretext for nefarious actors to delegitimize election outcomes for years to come,” the report says.
The report was co-written by Juan Proaño, LULAC’s chief executive, and Norman Eisen, who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Mr. Trump’s first impeachment, along with other lawyers with the super PAC, known as Democracy Defenders Network. The super PAC was founded this summer to counter election challenges from Republicans should Mr. Trump seek to undermine the results of the election.
Both groups are part of several national coalitions of voting rights and pro-democracy organizations that have been gearing up for Election Day to ensure voters can cast their ballots without fear of intimidation from right-wing activists. They have also been exploring legal and civic options that could be used if the election result is contested.
Mr. Proaño said in an interview that LULAC, the oldest Latino civil rights organization in the nation, was also ready to respond to Mr. Trump’s plans for mass deportations should he win. He added that for his organization, the ramifications of the myth of widespread noncitizen voters have already been a reality.
In August, armed officers with the Texas attorney general’s office and a district attorney’s office in South Texas raided the homes of several Democratic state leaders, political organizers and LULAC volunteers. Many of the volunteers were in their 70s and 80s and were left rattled, they said in interviews. The attorney general’s office has declined further comment on the inquiry.
The post Latino Civil Rights Group Pushes Back on the Myth of Noncitizen Voters appeared first on New York Times.
