Texas Charges 6 Over Alleged Vote Harvesting
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued indictments for six individuals allegedly involved in election crimes related to vote harvesting.
In a May 7
The charges stemmed from an investigation that started in August 2024, when multiple search
The majority of those arrested were charged with vote harvesting, a third-degree felony offense that involves a monetary exchange for collecting and submitting others' absentee ballots.
Some of the officials have been
'The people of Texas deserve fair and honest elections, not backroom deals and political insiders rigging the system. Elected officials who think they can cheat to stay in power will be held accountable. No one is above the law,' Paxton said.
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'My office will continue to work with Frio County District Attorney Audrey Louis to protect the integrity of our elections.'
At the time the warrants were served, one of the nation's oldest Latino civil rights organizations, the League of United Latin American Citizens, called the attorney general's actions an effort in voter suppression.
'This is voter suppression 101,' he said. 'There's no vote harvesting going on. There's nobody creating these ballots. That's a lie.'
Frio County Judge Rochelle Camacho was indicted on three counts of vote harvesting, and former Frio County Elections Administrator Carlos Segura faces one count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Pearsall City Council members Ramiro Trevino and Racheal Garza were each indicted on one count of vote harvesting.
Pearsall ISD Trustee Adriann Ramirez was indicted on three counts of vote harvesting, and Rosa Rodriguez, an alleged vote harvester in Frio County, was indicted on two counts of vote harvesting.
The recent arrests are part of a multi-year effort by Paxton to address voter fraud following the 2020 election.
A Texas woman, Raquel Rodriguez,
Four more individuals were arrested a month later on 150 counts of voter fraud related to the 2018 primary election, according to a
In June 2022, indictments from Paxton's office led to a Port Lavaca woman's
'Secure elections are the cornerstone of our republic,' Paxton
'We are completely committed to protecting the security of the ballot box and the integrity of every legal vote. This means ensuring accountability for anyone committing election crimes.'
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an hour ago
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Federal agents drag California U.S. senator from Kristi Noem's Los Angeles press conference in handcuffs
A Fox News reporter captured a shocking situation on video Thursday. Sen. Alex Padilla did not shout. He did not disrupt. He identified himself. 'I am Senator Alex Padilla,' he said calmly as federal agents moved in. Moments later, the California Democrat—ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee—was dragged from a Department of Homeland Security press conference in Los Angeles, forced to the ground, and handcuffed by multiple officers. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. Padilla, the first Latino U.S. senator from California, had been at the Wilshire Federal Building to receive a scheduled briefing from U.S. Northern Command's Gen. Gregory Guillot. According to his office, the senator stopped to listen to remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. When he tried to ask a question, he was physically restrained by federal agents. 'He tried to ask the Secretary a question and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground, and handcuffed,' Padilla's office said in a statement. 'He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.' Footage of the incident spread quickly online. One widely circulated clip shows Padilla being grabbed and pulled from the room as he identifies himself as a sitting senator. In a second video posted on Bluesky, Padilla is seen being forced to the floor as several officers kneel on and around him to secure his wrists. Toward the end of the clip, a voice off-camera says, 'There's no recording allowed out here,' and the video abruptly cuts off. At a press conference just before 3:30 p.m. EDT, Padilla confirmed what the video had already shown. 'I was there peacefully,' he said. 'At one point, I had a question. And so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed.' Padilla emphasized he had not been arrested or formally detained. But he warned that the episode revealed something far broader about the Trump administration's posture toward dissent. 'If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farmworkers, to custodians, to Angelenos,' Padilla said. 'We will hold this administration accountable.' He added that the Department of Homeland Security had repeatedly refused to answer oversight inquiries from Senate colleagues about its recent immigration enforcement operations: 'We've gotten little to no information in response.' Related: Trump's DHS considers reality TV show where immigrants fight for citizenship The confrontation unfolded as Los Angeles continued to reel from sweeping immigration enforcement operations and a militarized federal response. After several nights of curfews and more than 200 localized protest-related arrests, President Donald Trump federalized 4,000 National Guard troops and deployed 700 Marines—despite vocal objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. California has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the use of military forces outside federal property. The legality of the deployment remains in question. Under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, active-duty military—including the Marines—cannot engage in civilian law enforcement unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act. Trump has not done so. Tensions between the administration and congressional Democrats have escalated nationwide. This week, Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey was indicted on federal charges for allegedly interfering with immigration officers during a May visit to a detention facility—an incident her office calls political retaliation for lawful oversight. Related: Immigration judge dismisses asylum case of gay Venezuelan deported to Salvadoran supermax prison Padilla, a critic of Trump's immigration agenda, was one of the few federal lawmakers attempting to confront the administration's actions directly and in person. His restraint, as caught on video, drew swift condemnation from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. 'Watching this video sickened my stomach,' Schumer wrote. 'The manhandling of a United States Senator, Senator Padilla. We need immediate answers to what the hell went on.' Noem's spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, did not respond to a request for comment from The Advocate. Civil rights groups expressed alarm over Padilla's treatment. 'A sitting U.S. Senator should be allowed to ask a Cabinet Secretary a question at a press conference—in his own state, on an issue affecting his constituents—without being violently thrown to the floor and handcuffed,' Jay Brown, chief of staff at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. 'Everyone who cares about our country must condemn this undemocratic act. Full stop.' The incident comes just ahead of more than 1,500 'No Kings Day' protests scheduled nationwide for Saturday, organized to counter Trump's June 14 authoritarian military parade in Washington, D.C., and draw attention to what civil rights advocates call the normalization of federal force against political dissent. Padilla closed his remarks by urging protesters to remain peaceful. 'Just like I was calmly and peacefully listening in that press conference and preparing—attempting—to ask a question,' he said, 'I encourage everybody to please peacefully protest.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
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Sen. Alex Padilla disputes Trump administration's account of his forcible removal at a DHS event
Sen. Alex Padilla disputed the White House's account of the events surrounding his forcible removal from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on Thursday, pushing back against key details about what exactly preceded his handcuffing by federal law enforcement agents. Both the White House and Noem said Padilla, D-Calif., failed to identify himself to security, yelled and lunged toward Noem. "This man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped, did not identify himself, and was removed from the room,' Noem said in an interview on Fox News. 'The way that he acted was completely inappropriate." Padilla denied all of Noem's characterizations in his first interview after the incident — on MSNBC with NBC News' Jacob Soboroff. "That's ridiculous. It's a lie but par for the course for this administration," Padilla began. "They said I wasn't wearing my pin. My polo says 'United States Senate,'" Padilla said. "There was no threat. There was no lunging. I raised my voice to ask a question, and it took what, maybe, half a second before multiple agents were on me." The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Noem held a news conference in Los Angeles related to ongoing immigration raids across the city that have triggered volatile protests. Padilla, who was attending a nearby briefing, interrupted Noem's remarks, which he characterized as increasingly inaccurate and partisan, before he was forcibly removed from the event, put down on the ground and handcuffed by FBI officers, resulting in widespread backlash from Democrats. Padilla called the degree of force FBI agents used against him 'excessive' and an 'overreaction' because of his view that he wasn't 'threatening in any way.' He highlighted that because Noem's event was taking place in a federal building, he underwent a security screening and was escorted by federal agents at all times. Despite that, Padilla said, he was shoved out of the room by several agents, forced onto the ground and handcuffed. He complied with all of the agents' orders, he said, because of lessons he learned from his upbringing in the majority-Latino San Fernando Valley. 'Where I grew up, you know what happens if you don't obey law enforcement. So I began to go on my knees to the extent that they would let me,' Padilla said. 'I kept repeatedly asking themselves, 'Why am I being detained?' No answer. 'Why am I being detained?' No answer. 'Why am I being detained?' No answer.' Democrats have widely condemned the incident, with former Vice President Kamala Harris, Padilla's Senate predecessor, calling it a "stunning abuse of power" and Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, calling for the arrest of the agents involved. 'We want a fast and full investigation on the assault of Sen. Alex Padilla. That's what we want. We want those people that assaulted him to be looked at and to be arrested,' Espaillat said, adding that the Hispanic Caucus is 'fully behind' Padilla. FBI leadership has defended the actions of the officers amid the backlash, noting that Padilla was in plainclothes and not wearing a security pin and accusing him of resisting law enforcement officers. "Our FBI LA personnel responded in support of Secret Service completely appropriately. We stand by them and appreciate their swift action," a spokesperson for the bureau said on X. Former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, an NBC News contributor, said that the situation was 'unfortunate' but that she believed the officers 'had an obligation to respond' and acted appropriately. 'Their job is to make sure that no one causes harm to the secretary,' Best said. 'If the security detail hadn't acted in a situation like this, I think they would have been in hot water." Padilla said that after federal agents removed his handcuffs, he was invited to meet with Noem for 'a few minutes,' an opportunity he said he accepted in order to question her about Trump's decision to authorize the deployment of several thousand National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests over immigration raids. She did not appear conciliatory during the meeting, he said. 'You'd think she might have started the meeting with an apology for what happened? Of course not,' Padilla said. In the hours after the incident, Padilla has sought to tie his interaction with law enforcement agents to the ongoing immigration raids in Los Angeles, speculating that if federal personnel can use excessive force against a senator, they might use similar force when pursuing nonviolent immigrants. 'If they're willing to do this to a United States senator representing the state of California, just imagine how it's going with their immigration enforcement on the streets when they show up at restaurants and are trying to detain a cook or outside a Home Depot trying to detain a day laborer,' he said. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
2 hours ago
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Republicans Defend Rough Treatment Of U.S. Senator, Call For His Censure
WASHINGTON ― Republicans on Thursday defended the rough treatment of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) after he was manhandled, handcuffed and forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference in Los Angeles. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill, called Padilla's surprise appearance at Noem's press event 'wildly inappropriate' and accused him of charging at the Cabinet secretary. A group of House Democrats who were walking by at that moment rejected the speaker's characterization, however, hectoring Johnson by yelling, 'You lie!' Johnson went on, ignoring the jeers from Democrats: 'A sitting member of Congress should not act like that. That behavior at a minimum rises to the level of a censure.' Censuring a member of the Senate requires two-thirds of votes from the chamber, a higher threshold than in the House, which has been on a partisan censure spree in recent years. The Senate last censured one of its members in 1990. Padilla was filmed identifying himself by name and saying he was a U.S. senator as he approached Noem at the press event and began to question her on the Trump administration's federal immigration raids in Los Angeles and the deployment of federal troops there. Three men immediately forced him out of the room, wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him. Noem, however, told Fox News that her security officials did not recognize Padilla. She said she had a chance to meet with the senator privately about the immigration protests shortly afterward. 'Nobody knew who he was when he came into the room creating a scene,' Noem told the network. 'He was removed from the room, and yes, they started to put handcuffs on him when he finally identified himself, and that was stopped.' Padilla said he was never officially arrested or detained, but the Democrat, California's first Latino senator, drew comparisons to his treatment and that of undocumented immigrants across his state by the Trump administration. 'I will say this: if this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,' Padilla said at a press conference afterward. Democrats cried foul at their colleague's treatment, accusing the Trump administration of employing authoritarian tactics to crush dissent. 'DHS agents are throwing people to the gound and violently handcuffing them while they are not resisting, detaining them for exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said from the Senate floor. 'Every day, Donald Trump is making this nation look more and more like a fascist state,' she added. But Republicans mostly blamed the ugly episode on Padilla, accusing him of orchestrating a stunt for political purposes. The tactic of crashing a government official's press event is quite common. Rarely does it lead to a lawmaker being manhandled and handcuffed on the ground. 'Instead of disrupting a press conference, why not just wait, do your own press conference?' asked Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Other Republicans criticized Padilla for skipping votes in the Senate, even though lawmakers on both sides of the aisle frequently miss votes for a variety of reasons. 'When we're voting in the United States Senate [on] important legislation for the country, he's not here, is that right?' asked Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.). Arthur Delaney contributed reporting. An Emotional Sen. Padilla Speaks After Being Roughed Up At Kristi Noem Presser Trump Administration Downplays Alex Padilla Incident With Misleading Characterizations As Kamala Harris Resigns Senate, Alex Padilla Becomes California's First Latino Senator
