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Fighting Hate Crimes Against Latinos - MALDEF Thanks You for Your Continued Support

December 21, 2009 - As we begin to close 2009 and prepare for our holiday celebrations, we want to thank each of you for your support throughout the numerous campaigns MALDEF has led to support civil rights for Latinos in 2009. In particular, we'd like to thank the over 50,000 petitioners who spoke out against Hate Crimes and the brutal beating death of Luis Ramirez, a Mexican immigrant and father of two, in Shenandoah, PA.

We are proud to announce that among our victories this year, we can include last week's Department of Justice announcement of federal grand jury indictments against 2 of Luis' assailants and 3 police officers involved in the investigation. We have been following Luis Ramirez's case since it occurred in 2008, and have worked closely with his family and fiancée, Crystal Dillman. Unfortunately, despite considerable and convincing evidence, Luis' assailants were acquitted of the 3rd degree murder charge against them, and only sentenced for simple assault and underage drinking.

Since that time we have pressed for federal hate crimes charges to be brought against the assailants. Thanks to your support and contributions, MALDEF was able to mobilize resources and launched a national campaign to petition the Department of Justice to further investigate. This week, the Ramirez family got the news they longed to hear and are one step closer to bringing Luis' attackers to justice.

We can only ensure that MALDEF continue to receive positive news like this for Latinos if we have your support. Your help goes a long way toward helping us fight the many cases just like this one around the country. Please give today. Any amount will make a difference and will be greatly appreciated.

For more information on the case of Luis Ramirez, click here.