Republican Mayra Flores rejected from all-Democratic Hispanic caucus

U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores cried foul Wednesday after getting rejected from the most influential Hispanic group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Flores, R-Los Indios, tweeted Wednesday that she’d been denied membership in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, decrying the decision as evidence of “bias towards conservative Latinas that don’t fit their narrative or ideology.”

“As the first Mexican-born American Congresswoman, I thought the Hispanic Caucus would be open in working together,” Flores said in the tweet expressing her disappointment.

The caucus is entirely made up of Democrats — including five from Texas. It was originally founded in 1976 as a bipartisan working group of Hispanic lawmakers in both chambers of Congress. But in the 1990s, differences over the U.S.’s Cuba policy led to a fissure between the group’s Republican and Democratic members. The Republicans led by Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Florida, left to form the similarly named Congressional Hispanic Conference in 2003.