Court Cases Immigrants’ Rights

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – MALDEF and a coalition of civil rights groups today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, urging the court to keep in place an injunction blocking the core provisions of SB 1070, Arizona’s racial profiling law.

Federal judge blocks most egregious provisions of law in ruling in DOJ case that parallels MALDEF and civil rights coalition suit

MALDEF filed amicus brief to address concern that state circuit court judge improperly considered the immigration status of the child’s mother with adoption petition

U.S. Department of Justice Argument to Follow on the Same Day

Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel, vows to continue to defend the civil rights of all Arizona residents and commends the Obama Administration and Department of Justice for joining the fight

MALDEF reaches favorable settlement agreement with Ottawa County resulting in a change to their policy regarding the issuance of marriage licenses to individual without social security numbers.

PHOENIX, AZ – Late Friday, MALDEF and a coalition of civil rights groups asked a federal court to block Arizona from implementing its controversial new law, known as SB 1070, pending a final court ruling on its constitutionality. The law requires police to demand ‘papers’ from people they stop who they suspect are “unlawfully present” in the U.S. According to the coalition, the law would subject massive numbers of people—both citizens and non-citizens— to racial profiling, improper investigations and detention.

PHOENIX, AZ – MALDEF and a coalition of civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit today in a federal court in Phoenix challenging Arizona’s new law requiring police to demand “papers” from people they stop who they suspect are not authorized to be in the U.S. The extreme law, the coalition charged, invites the racial profiling of people of color, violates the First Amendment and interferes with federal law.

MALDEF and Avanti Law Group attorneys challenge Ottawa County’s violation of the 14th Amendment and Michigan’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act

SB 1070 remains unconstitutional despite recent amendments

Civil rights leaders Dolores Huerta and Richard Chavez joined by famed musician and Arizona native, Linda Ronstadt, to condemn new law

MALDEF will pursue all legal options to challenge SB 1070

Flawed legislation will lead to rampant civil rights violations

Federal judge rules Farmers Branch Ordinance 2952 is unconstitutional