'Civil rights violations': Texas raids target Latino political activists

THE TWO COUNTRIES ARE EACH OTHER LARGEST TRADE PARTNERS. >>> MORE NOW ON A STORY WE'VE BEEN VERY CLOSELY FOLLOWING FOR YOU. THE LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN-AMERICAN CITIZENS OR LULAC, DEMANDING ACTION FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AFTER THE HOMES OF DEMOCRATIC LATINO VOTING ACTIVISTS, VOLUNTEERS AND POLITICAL OPERATIVES WERE RAIDED IN TEXAS. THE RAIDS ORDERED BY TEXAS REPUBLICAN ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON. PAXTON SAYS THE RAIDS ARE PART OF A STATE ELECTION INTEGRITY INVESTIGATION. NO CHARGES, HOWEVER HAVE BEEN FILED AS A RESULT OF THESE RAIDS. NBC NEWS HAS REACHED OUT TO PAXTON AND HAS NOT RECEIVED A RESPONSE AS OF YET. JOINING US NOW, CEO OF LULAC, AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING WITH US TODAY. >> THANK YOU. >> FIRST OF ALL, TELL US ABOUT THE RAIDS AND WHAT'S GOING ON? >> SO WE ACTUALLY GOT WORD LAST THURSDAY IT AS A MATTER OF FACT. SO OUR UNDERSTANDING IS THAT ON TUESDAY MORNING THERE WERE ABOUT 12 WARRANTS ESSENTIALLY FOR SEARCH AND SEIZURE OF LATINO LEADERS AND LULAC MEMBERS ACTUALLY IN THE COMMUNITY. THEY STARTED AT 6:00 A.M. ONE OF OUR MEMBERS, LYDIA MARTINEZ. 87 YEARS OLD, GRANDMOTHER, GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, AWAKENED BY NINE POLICE OFFICERS WITH FIREARMS. ANOTHER WITH 40 POLICE OFFICERS IN S.W.A.T. GEAR. >> 40? >> 40. AND BASICALLY GOING IN TO CONFISCATE CELL PHONES, COMPUTERS, ESSENTIALLY, DOCUMENTS, ANYTHING THEY COULD EFFECTIVELY FIND, AND INTERROGATIONS. THREE HOURS INTERROGATING LYDIA MARTINEZ. SEVEN HOURS IN THE OTHER CASE AS WELL. >> WHAT IS IT THAT -- THIS IS JUST UNBELIEVABLE. WHAT DO YOU WANT THE DOJ TO DO? >> WE WANT THEM TO INVESTIGATE. NUMBER ONE, WE THINK THERE ARE CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS. IN ADDITION TO THAT, LIKELY CRIMINAL ASPECTS TO IT AS WELL. >> SO PAXTON IS SAYING THAT THESE RAIDS ARE PART OF SOME INVESTIGATION? WHAT VALIDITY DO YOU GIVE TO THIS STATE INVESTIGATION INTO ELECTION INTEGRITY? >> NONE WHATSOEVER. IT'S DEBUNK. STARTED TWO YEARS AGO WITH A REPORT FROM THE DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL PROVIDING NO EVIDENCE AT ALL FOR ANY VOTER FRAUD OR MANIPULATION, IF WILL YOU. WHAT WE'VE SEEN HERE, JOSE IS A PATTERN. IN JUNE HE SUED CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. AND THEN IN JULY HE SUED THE ANNUNCIATION HOUSE AND A SERIES OF OTHER LATINO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. SO WE WERE CERTAINLY VERY SURPRISED WHEN HE TOOK IT TO LATINO LEADERS AND LULAC MEMBERS. >> SO I WANT TO JUST END BY -- RECOGNIZING THAT EXTRAORDINARY WORK THAT LULAC DOES, BUT IF YOU WOULD, JUST GIVE US AN IDEA OF WHAT LULAC IS AND WHAT LULAC DOES? >> LULAC IS THE COUNTRY'S OLDEST AND LARGEST CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION. OVER 246,000 MEMBERS IN ALL 50 STATES. WE ADVOCATE FOR THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF LATINOS IN THE UNITED STATES. >> NOT DEMOCRATS OR REPUBLICANS LATINOS. LATINOS? >> INDEPENDENTS, DEMOCRAT, REPUBLICANS, OF ALL STRIPES. >> TALK ABOUT THE LATINO VOTE. IT'S THE LATINO VOTER, BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE LATINO VOTER MAY BE DIFFERENT IN WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS AND CIRCUMSTANCES THAT THEY DECIDE WHEN THEY GO TO THE BALLOT BOX, BUT I'M WONDERING. IT'S IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE TO KNOW THE STRENGTH OF THE LATINO VOTER IN OUR COUNTRY. >> AND, YOU KNOW, ALWAYS SAID IT'S A SLEEPING GIANT. I SAW DO YOU THE PIECE ON GEORGIA, FOR EXAMPLE. IN TEXAS, THERE ARE 12.1 MILLION LATINOS. >> YEP. >> WE OUTNON-HISPANIC WHITES IN TEXAS. IF YOU FACTOR IN HISPANICS, AFRICAN AMERICAN, ASIANS IN TEXAS ALONE, THAT'S 60% OF THE POPULATION. TEXAS IS AND HAS BEEN MAJORITY MINORITY STATE, BUT IN GEORGIA, THERE ARE A MILLION LATINOS. ACTUALLY LESS THAN 5% OF THE POPULATION, SIGNIFICANTLY UNDER THE NATIONAL AVERAGE, BUT 5% OF THE ELECTORATE IS LATINO IN A STATE THAT BIDEN WON BY LESS THAN 15,000 VOTES. LATINOS CAN ACTUALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE THERE. PENNSYLVANIA AND IN MICHIGAN.