Did you receive 14 days` notice? Is it a rent claim or an eviction notice? What do you do next? Read our guide to help you navigate the legal system. Led by Jack Greenberg, chief counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, attorney Pete Tijerina meets with Bill Pincus of the Ford Foundation to discuss funding for a new organization. When a crisis occurs and people who cannot afford a lawyer face legal problems due to job loss, illness or unfair denial of benefits, they often don`t know where to turn or where to get legal advice. These people often get lost in the justice system, thwarted by unknown procedures and confusing processes and documents. The chances of success are greatly increased if you have a lawyer by your side. We are proud of the positive results we can achieve for our customers. For 50 years, MALDEF has strived to achieve some of the most important legal victories in advancing Latin American civil rights in the United States. MALDEF is challenging a Texas law that refuses to fund the education of some immigrants. The 1977 trial led to the landmark 1982 U.S.
Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutional right to free K-12 education for all children, regardless of immigration status. Hudson Valley Legal Services` commitment to racial justice has always been a common thread running through our work. The pressure on our country and the world due to COVID-19 seems relentless. Add to that the pain of the last few weeks since the blatant murder of George Floyd and countless other black and brown people, and too many people in our communities are suffering and traumatic. As a legal service provider, we fight for equal justice for all. LSHV remains steadfast in its anti-racist commitment as we actively work for justice by providing services to those in need, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue to work in our communities and with our partners to reduce the injustices of systemic racism. We hope you will join us as we continue this fight. Our first legal victory came shortly after our founding in 1968. MALDEF went to court on behalf of 192 students at Edcouch Elsa High School in Hidalgo County, Texas, who were expelled after boycotting classes to protest the local school board`s refusal to listen to their pleas about educational abuse. A judge agreed that the expulsions violated the students` constitutional right to protest.
The MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) opened its doors on August 1, 1968 in San Antonio, Texas. Inspired by civil rights litigation on behalf of the African-American community and aware of pervasive discrimination against Latinos, lawyers and community activists throughout the southwestern United States began efforts to create a legal organization serving the Latino community. MALDEF filed a lawsuit on behalf of parents and families in April 2014 to ensure that poor and vulnerable children in New Mexico receive an adequate education. A state court rules for the first time in New Mexico`s history that education is a fundamental right under the state constitution. The lawsuit led to a state court ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in July 2018. In 1984, MALDEF filed a lawsuit on behalf of families and school districts against the discriminatory method of funding its Texas schools. The lawsuit led to a unanimous Texas Supreme Court decision in 1989 declaring the state`s financial system unconstitutional. The case led to greater equity in school funding. WHITE PLAINS 90 Maple AvenueWhite Plains, NY 10601(914) 949-1305 MALDEF successfully convinced Congress to extend the franchise to Latinos, a decade after the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The expansion of the VRA in 1975 led to the introduction of bilingual ballots and other efforts to facilitate the disenfranchisement of Latinos.
We oppose Texas law SB 4, which requires local governments to participate in the enforcement of federal immigration law. We oppose the Trump administration`s proposal to add a citizenship question to the census. We are defending ourselves against a multi-state Texas lawsuit challenging the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative on behalf of immigrant youth who want nothing more than to live and prosper in the only country they have ever called home. We challenge private companies that discriminate against immigrants. MALDEF was deliberately modeled after the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). In fact, MALDEF got started, largely thanks to the generous advice and support of legendary civil rights lawyer Jack Greenberg, who was then director and advisor to the DFL. In 2020, we treated 12,142 cases and affected 27,380 people in all practice areas. Watch five of these people talk about their experiences with SVSH. Pete Tijerina is appointed Executive Director of MALDEF and Mario Obledo is appointed General Counsel.
A federal lawsuit filed by MALDEF in 2016 challenges a 2011 five-member district plan in Kern County, California, that includes only one county with a majority of Latino voters eligible to vote. A federal judge ruled in 2018 that the plan unlawfully denied Latinos the right to vote for candidates of their choice, violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, leading to an agreement on a new district plan. The case is the first VRA lawsuit filed in California in more than a decade. The 2004 MALDEF Trial, GI Forum of Texas v. State of Texas, consolidated with three other lawsuits as League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry challenged the 2003 redistricting plan for the Texas legislature. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that the plan denied Latino voters the opportunity to vote for a candidate of their choice, violating Section 2 of the Federal Elections Act. Later in the decade, MALDEF was instrumental in fighting California`s Proposition 187, the anti-immigrant law that was largely struck down by a federal court as unconstitutional. MALDEF moves its headquarters to San Francisco, California. MALDEF is suing the national clothing retailer against recruitment and hiring practices that exclude minorities and women, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The lawsuit resulted in a revision of the guidelines and a $50 million settlement in November 2004. We advocated on behalf of day labourers whose right to freedom of expression has been violated by municipal penal ordinances prohibiting them from seeking work in public spaces. We defended immigrants to fight Arizona`s SB 1070, the unconstitutional “show me-your-papers” law. We challenged the presence of immigration officers in New Mexico`s public schools to arrest disciplined students, and we denounced blatant discrimination at Abercrombie & Fitch and won $50 million in compensation. Our efforts to strengthen equal suffrage and access to representation were intensified in 2006 when the United States.