LOS ANGELES, CA – On Women’s Equality Day, the nation commemorates the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. However, when the amendment was ratified 100 years ago, the same barriers – Jim Crow laws, English-only ballots, poll taxes, voter ID laws — that kept men of color from voting also applied to Latinas and Black women. It wasn’t until 1965 with the signing of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits voting discrimination based on race, color and national origin that Latinas and Black women began to experience real access to the ballot. In 1975, the VRA was extended to include protections for language-minorities, further protecting the right to vote for Latinas.
Public Policy
MALDEF STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S COMMENTS SUGGESTING DELAY OF 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
MALDEF Statement Supporting Boycott of Goya Foods
MALDEF STATEMENT ON DEFEAT OF RACIST REP. STEVE KING IN IOWA PRIMARY
MALDEF STATEMENT ON NATIONAL CRISIS AND POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
LOS ANGELES – Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), issued the following statement in response to the current national crisis sparked by the murder of George Floyd, and the need for aggressive police reform measures to address the ongoing problem of police violence that disproportionately affects and kills Black Americans:
CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS CALL FOR DEFEAT OF CORY WILSON’S NOMINATION TO FIFTH CIRCUIT
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – National and state civil rights organizations today announced their vehement opposition to Senate confirmation of Cory Wilson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Last week, the Senate announced it would move Donald Trump’s judicial nominations although millions of Americans are suffering from coronavirus and its impact.
MALDEF STATEMENT CONDEMNING TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION PROCLAMATION
MALDEF ENDORSES CALIFORNIA’S PROPOSITION 13 ON 2020 BALLOT
MALDEF STATEMENT ON APPOINTMENT OF FORMER LEADER OF ANTI-IMMIGRANT GROUP TO HELP ESTABLISH DETENTION OVERSIGHT OFFICE
(LOS ANGELES) – Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) issued the following statement in response to a news report that Julie Kirchner, a former leader of FAIR, an anti-immigrant hate group, has been appointed to establish an ombudsman office that handles complaints of civil rights violations in immigration detention centers:
MALDEF STATEMENT ON SUPREME COURT RULING ON PUBLIC CHARGE
(LOS ANGELES) – The U.S. Supreme Court today voted 5-4 to lift a preliminary injunction that blocked the Trump administration’s punitive “public charge rule” from taking effect. The rule seeks to impose unprecedented and alarming limits on legal immigration and punish immigrants who legally access public services.
MALDEF STATEMENT ON TRUMP’S THREAT TO VETO SPENDING BILL OVER DACA PROVISION
LOS ANGELES – The Washington Post today reported that Trump administration officials threatened to shut down the federal government last month over a dispute about a provision in a year-end spending bill that would have allowed immigrants who are authorized to work under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to obtain jobs on Capitol Hill.
JOINT REPORT PROVIDES ROADMAP FOR ADDRESSING SERIOUS VOTING RIGHTS ISSUES NATIONWIDE
MALDEF TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS ON STRENGTHENING VOTING RIGHTS PROTECTIONS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representatives of leading civil rights organizations testified in two U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee hearings yesterday about the need to expand and strengthen the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) and to address other elections-related concerns. MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) President and General Counsel Thomas A. Saenz was among those testifying.