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February 7, 2019

Civil Rights Groups Challenge Texas Voter Purge Targeting Immigrants
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In Texas, civil rights groups are suing to block a Republican-led purge
of voting rolls they say could see thousands of naturalized citizens
wrongfully barred from voting in the next election. Four Texas-based
nonprofits say the secretary of state and the Texas Department of Public
Safety unlawfully sought to suppress the vote of immigrants by flagging
tens of thousands of registered voters who declared they were not U.S.
citizens when obtaining a driver's license. The groups say most-if not
all-of those flagged were later naturalized. Chiraag Bains, director of
legal strategies at Demos, said, "The Secretary of State … is
intentionally targeting new Americans and people of color in order to
decrease minority voter participation, in flagrant violation of the
Constitution and the Voting Rights Act."


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