Public Policy Immigrants’ Rights

MALDEF and TRUST aim to repeat success of 2011 session in future

Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel Statement: Government’s decision is “severe threat to civil rights in our nation”

Reforms are Inadequate to Resolve Program’s Problems

LOS ANGELES, CA – Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel of MALDEF, issued the statement below in response to a radical proposal by Republican Sens. David Vitter (La.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) that flies in the face of the Fourteenth Amendment’s grant of citizenship to those born in the United States of America. The constitutional right of citizenship at birth, rooted in the hard-fought American values of fairness and equality, should not be subject to political and discriminatory whims. The Vitter-Paul proposal would strip the long-standing grant of citizenship to all born on U.S. soil, and would limit citizenship to those (1) with a parent who is a U.S. citizen; (2) with a parent who is a lawful permanent resident residing in the U.S. or serving on active-duty in the U.S. Armed Forces; or (3) naturalized under immigration law.

Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel, condemns cowardly intimidation tactics and calls for full investigation