September 4, 2019

The Honorable Ken Paxton

Attorney General, State of Texas
300 West 15th Street
Austin, Texas 78701

Attorney General Paxton:

It has been brought to my attention that for the past year and a half, a San Antonio resident has been
sending your office numerous and repeated correspondences that contain violent expressions of hate
and prejudice against our state’s Latino community, particularly in my city of San Antonio.

As described by the San Antonio Express-News report published on September 3, 2019, your office has
received more than two dozen messages from a Mr. Ralph Pulliam, included in which were disturbing
sentiments such as: “We will open fire on these thugs...It will be a bloodbath” and “we see it coming—the day
when these thugs will push this into a showdown.” While couched in complaints about alleged violations
of 2017’s Senate Bill 4, these messages are clearly threats of deadly force against San Antonians based
solely on the color of their skin.

Since learning of these numerous complaints from a reporter, the San Antonio Police Department has
confirmed that they are working with your office to draw up potential charges against Mr. Pulliam,
whose harassment of his Latino neighbors necessitates frequent visits to his home by the SAPD. Though
I am encouraged to see this coordination between state and local government, I wish it had occurred
when Mr. Pulliam first began sending these threats. It is deeply alarming to me that despite the large
volume and explicit nature of the messages from Mr. Pulliam, the Office of Attorney General has taken
so long to cooperate with local law enforcement.

These threats seem particularly concerning in light of the recent mass shooting in El Paso, a racially-
motivated attack directed against a so-called ‘Hispanic Invasion’ of our state. The man in question here
goes a step further than that, clearly and directly expressing his intention to kill members of the
community based solely on their race. I am sure that you and your office would agree with me that as
officers of the state, we should be taking every precaution available to us under the law in order to
prevent further loss of life. Given the severity of these threats against my community, I formally request
to meet with you at your earliest convenience to be briefed on the following items, to the extent legally…
…possible, for legislative purposes, pursuant to the Texas Government Code 552.008:

1. What official protocols, if any, are currently in place to ensure local officials are notified when
your office receives threats that endanger their city, and whether a breach in protocol occurred;
2. In the absence of such protocols, whether there is a need for the Legislature to codify procedures
for your office to follow to guarantee collaboration with local government moving forward;
3. What actions your office has taken to address these threats in the year and a half since receiving
the first complaint; and
4. Which state and local officials, including members of the Bexar County delegation to the Texas
House of Representatives, were notified upon receipt of the threats, if any.

After every mass shooting, leaders like you and I find ourselves asking what more could have been
done to prevent such an egregious act. Mr. Attorney General, failure to act on clear warning signs like
this is one of the most common and critical mistakes that can be made, and it should be the full focus
of your office to ensure that our community is kept safe. The people of Texas deserve nothing less.

I look forward to meeting with you to discuss this matter further. My chief of staff, Bailey Schumm, can
be reached at bailey.schumm@house.texas.gov or at 512-463-0616 to coordinate a time to meet.

Respectfully,

Trey Martinez Fischer

State Representative, House District 116
Chairman, House Committee on Business & Industry
Dean, Bexar County Delegation

cc: The Honorable Philip Cortez The Honorable Barbara Gervin-Hawkins

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