MALDEF Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund

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MALDEFMexican American Legal Defense and
Educational Fund

• Melissa Huerta

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Promoting Latino Civil Rights Since 1968
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MALDEFS MISSION

• Founded in 1968, is a national non-profit,
  non-partisan civil rights organization. MALDEFS
  mission is to protect and to promote the rights
  of the entire Latino community in the United
  States through litigation, community education,
  and public policy advocacy.

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EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

• EDUCATION

• MALDEF sponsored 3 legislative proposals and a
  resolution.
• One was signed into law, 2 were vetoed, and 1 was
  enacted by the legislature
• AB1543 was signed into law Offer in state
  Tuition to undocumented students that graduate
  from California High Schools
• According to MALDEF

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EDUCATION CONTD

• SB1595 this bill ensures that immigrant parents
  are appropriately notified about actions and
  decisions at school that involve their children
• ACR 178 encourages UC to use comprehensive review
  and de-emphasize standardized test scores in
  graduate and professional school admissions

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HIGHER EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS

• Law school scholarship
• MALDEF also supports matriculated law students
  that are in the process of the completion of
  their degree. Through its scholarship MALDEF
  seeks to increase the number of Latinos in the
  legal profession.
• Scholarships range from 3,000-7,000 per
  individual

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IMMIGRATION CITIZENSHIP

• One of MALDEFs greatest success was the final
  settlement reached in the case Gregorio T. v.
  Wilson under the settlement, Governor Gray Davis
  and the state of California officially agreed to
  dismissed the appeal to Proposition 187,which
  when implemented, would have denied education,
  healthcare and social services to the states
  undocumented immigrants.
• MALDEF continues to monitor federal and state
  proposed legislation, attend hearings, submit
  comments on matters that impact the fair and
  equitable treatment of immigrants.

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Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• This compromised the most important statute of
  the War on Poverty addressing employment
  discrimination.
• It prohibits discrimination on the basis of
  gender, creed, race, or ethnic background, to
  achieve the quality of employment opportunities
  and remove barriers that have operated in the
  past.
• According to the Hispanic-American Almanac

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EMPLOYMENT LANGUAGEMALDEF was victorious in
2 English-only cases.

• FIRST CASE
• 1.5 million settlement was reached by MALDEFs
  San Antonio office and the U.S. Equal Employment
  Opportunity (EEOC).

• SECOND CASE
• The EEOC found that three housekeepers were being
  discriminated against based on their national
  origin.

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Public Policy

• This program encompasses
• voter registration
• Ballot access issues
• Methods for electing governing bodies
• The counting of populations for
  reapportionment
• MALDEFs litigation and advocacy is aimed at
  preventing the dilution of Latino votes.

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Regional Offices

• Chicago
• Sacramento and Los Angeles, CA
• San Antonio and Houston TX
• Atlanta, GA
• Washington, D.C.

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CONCLUSION

• MALDEF has been at the forefront of civil rights
  litigation, setting precedent in many cases and
  establishing new systems to elect officials, hire
  and promote employees, and educate children.