News Releases
Federal Judge Finds City of Waukegan Violated the First Amendment Rights of City Protestors
CHICAGO, IL– The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and Miner, Barnhill & Galland announced that yesterday a federal district court judge in Chicago reminded the City of Waukegan, Mayor Richard Hyde and Police Chief William Biang that the First Amendment is alive and well. According to MALDEF Regional Counsel Ricardo Meza “a United States District Court Judge held that the City of Waukegan violated the constitutional rights of two of the plaintiffs and sufficient evidence exists for the claims of the remaining plaintiffs to go to trial.”
Court Denies Texas Education Agency’s Efforts To Stall Students’ Rights To Equal Educational Opportunities
AUSTIN, TX – Earlier today, a federal district court denied the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) request to put on hold the court’s order that requires TEA to remedy its language programs for English Language Learner (ELL) children across Texas in the long-standing case, US v. Texas. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy, Inc. (META), on behalf of LULAC and the GI Forum, hotly contested TEA’s Motion to Stay Proceedings Pending Appeal filed just weeks ago and urged the Court to hold TEA to the current deadline of January 31, 2009.
MALDEF Hace Un Llamado A Lideres Atras Todas Comunidades Para Unirse Y Condenar La Violencia De Odio Y Despertar La Conciencia Nacional Sobre Esta Epidemis Nacional
MALDEF Calls For National Action In Wake Of Killing Of Third Latino Victim Of A Hate Crime in Five Months
MALDEF Urges Supreme Court To Permit Communities To Create Diverse Schools
Washington, DC – Today, school districts, civil rights organizations and educators urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold local school districts’ voluntary integration authority. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) filed an amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 16 national and local Latino organizations. At issue in the two consolidated cases, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education is the continued authority of local school districts to take voluntary action to reduce racial segregation and isolation in their schools.
MALDEF Urges Supreme Court To Permit Communities To Create Diverse Schools
Washington, DC – Today, school districts, civil rights organizations and educators urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold local school districts’ voluntary integration authority. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) filed an amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 16 national and local Latino organizations. At issue in the two consolidated cases, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education is the continued authority of local school districts to take voluntary action to reduce racial segregation and isolation in their schools.
Civil Rights Groups Condemn Recent Rash of Hate Crimes
Declaracion De La Abogada Gladys Limon De MALDEF, Referente A La Litigacion De Los Eventos Del Primero De Mayo
LOS ÁNGELES, CA- El día 1 de Mayo del 2007, miles de personas participaron en una marcha y demostración pacifica para hacer un llamado para una reforma migratoria comprensiva. Estos individuos y familias, mayormente Latinos e inmigrantes, manifestaron su valor, dignidad, y el deseo de continuar participando dentro de nuestra sociedad, ejerciendo algunos de los derechos y libertades mas apreciados, otorgados por nuestra constitución – que es el derecho de asamblea y expresarse libremente. De hecho, son estas libertades las que atrajeron a mucho de los participantes de esta marcha a los Estados Unidos. Algunos de ellos, huyeron de la opresión y terror, buscando libertad, otros escaparon la pobreza inmensa buscando la promesa Americana de poder vivir una vida digna a cambio del trabajo digno.
Latino Voters’ Decisive Role In Historic Elections Are Followed By High Expectations of Obama Administration, Congress
MALDEF Vigilant on Election Day
MALDEF Defends Voters From Intimidation In New Mexico
Civil Rights Organizations Demand Repeal Of Unconstitutional Ordinance
ESCONDIDO, CA – A coalition of civil rights organizations and law firms has filed an official letter with the City of Escondido demanding that they repeal an unconstitutional anti-immigrant ordinance. The coalition, composed of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Fair Housing Council of San Diego, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and People For the American Way (PFAW), is taking action against an ordinance passed by the Escondido City Council on October 18 which would ban renting an apartment to, or otherwise “harboring” any person “not lawfully present” in the United States. The coalition also includes the private law firms of Rosner & Mansfield LLP and Cooley Godward Kronish LLP.
Hate Crimes Against Latinos At New Record Levels
MALDEF Wins Preliminary Injunction Against State Of Georgia For Its Failure To Comply With The Voting Rights Act
ATLANTA, GA – Yesterday, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) won a favorable court ruling effectively ending the State of Georgia’s illegal attempt to use an unlawful verification check that would have denied the right to vote for thousands of citizens. The court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the State of Georgia to allow persons whose citizenship has been questioned pursuant to Georgia’s database matching system to cast a ballot in the Nov. 4 election.