LOS ANGELES – MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) has appointed Hector Villagra as Vice President of Policy Advocacy and Community Education.
In his new position, Villagra will oversee MALDEF policy advocacy and community education efforts nationwide, including overseeing the organization’s Parent School Partnership and Youth Leadership Program.
“Hector Villagra is an acknowledged and highly respected civil rights leader throughout California, and I look forward to working with him again,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “We are so fortunate to welcome Hector back as he takes his civil rights efforts to a national level through work with our extraordinary staff of policy advocates and community educators.”
This is not Villagra’s first time working at MALDEF. He served as regional counsel in the organization’s Los Angeles headquarters from 2001 to 2005. Prior to that, he was a MALDEF staff attorney. Villagra started his tenure at MALDEF in 1996 as a MALDEF / Fried Frank Civil Rights Fellow; he was one of the first fellows in the program, which was established over 30 years ago and continues today.
Most recently, Villagra served as Executive Director of ACLU of Southern California, Los Angeles. He also served as ACLU of Southern California, Los Angeles legal director between 2009 and 2011. Between 2005 and 2009, Villagra led the organization’s Orange County office.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to return to MALDEF, where I learned how to be a civil rights lawyer and advocate,” said Villagra. “The rights of Latinos, and in particular those who are immigrants, will likely experience unprecedented attacks in the years to come. It is essential that MALDEF provide leadership, expertise and strength, as it always has in difficult times like these, and I am proud to do my part as VP of Policy Advocacy and Community Education.”
Villagra graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Philosophy and earned his law degree from Columbia University School of Law.
Villagra will rejoin MALDEF on January 6.