One of the nation’s oldest civil rights groups plans to file federal legal action after officials in Texas conducted searches and seizures in connection with alleged illegal ballot harvesting ahead of the 2024 election.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that his office’s Election Integrity Division conducted search warrants in three south Texas counties last week as part of its ongoing investigation.

According to Paxton, the unit had been investigating fraud and allegations of voter fraud since 2022, which yielded enough evidence to obtain warrants.

However, officials from LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) claimed that the warrant-based searches amounted to “raids” and wrongly targeted elderly volunteers who were collecting ballots.

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A woman prepares mail-in ballots to be counted at a polling place in Pennsylvania. (Aimee Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images/File)

LULAC National Chairman Roman Palomares said he hopes to go to Washington to meet with Justice Department officials who handle civil rights cases. Palomares claimed that “100 percent” of those targeted were Latino or ethnic minorities.

“Two or three of our members were (subject to the searches), and they are certified (voter) registrants,” he told Fox News Digital. “These are regular people, but for some reason they’re targeting (them).”

“We think it’s unfair. These are tactics they’re using to suppress the vote,” Palomares said. “That’s what we think is happening, and that’s why we’re here. I’m here to defend my members.”

While Paxton’s office did not respond to a request for comment, the attorney general said in a statement that “secure elections are the cornerstone of our republic.”

“We were happy to assist when the District Attorney referred this matter to my office for investigation. We are fully committed to protecting the security of the ballot box and the integrity of every legal vote. This means ensuring accountability for anyone who commits election crimes,” Paxton said.

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However, Palomares said there may be another political interest in the counties around Uvalde where the surgeries took place: Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans see the 80th House District as the Democratic seat most likely to flip red in November.

Palomares argued that LULAC volunteers are not in Bexar County to help Democrats retain their seats, and he said the organization should not be allowed to do so.

“There are people who are working to help, not necessarily her, but to register voters so they can vote; we are nonpartisan. We can’t tell them how to vote, but we want to register as many people as possible so they can exercise their right,” he said.

“And those are the people that are being targeted. And it appears that it is being targeted in this district.”

Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the allegation, but in January it endorsed former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, the Republican running in the race.

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Pamphlets from the League of United Latin American Citizens (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images/File)

Palomares added that one of the women subject to the search warrants was 80 years old and a former member of LULAC’s board of directors.

He said police confiscated her electronics and that she told him she was embarrassed to be sitting outside her home in her nightgown at dawn. He called the way the searches were conducted “intimidation tactics.”

“I don’t think that’s right. You know, she didn’t commit a crime, she wasn’t convicted, she wasn’t hiding or anything like that,” Palomares said.

“I mean, these are allegations that they hear somewhere, and then they come in and do things.”

A Justice Department spokesman confirmed Tuesday that he had received a letter from LULAC but would not provide further details.