FIFTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS TO HEAR ARGUMENTS ON TEXAS IMMIGRANT HARBORING LAW ON JANUARY 4, 2017

MALDEF

January 3, 2017

New Orleans, LA - MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) will present oral argument at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, asking the court to uphold a federal court’s preliminary injunction blocking Texas from enforcing a provision in HB 11 that makes it a crime to harbor or conceal someone who is in the U.S. without legal documents.

WHAT: Oral argument in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals involving Texas’ immigrant harboring law.

WHO: Nina Perales, MALDEF vice president for litigation.

WHEN: 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 4, 2017

WHERE: The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth District, 600 Camp Street, Room 209, New Orleans, LA 70130.

Background: In 2015, the Texas legislature enacted HB 11, which included an immigrant harboring provision that created a new state felony offense under which individuals could be arrested and prosecuted for providing shelter or renting a home to undocumented immigrants.

MALDEF filed a federal lawsuit against Texas arguing the state’s harboring provision is pre-empted by federal immigration law. In April 2016, a federal judge blocked Texas from enforcing the immigrant harboring provision while the MALDEF lawsuit proceeds to a final decision. The state then appealed that ruling.

Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the "Latino Legal Voice for Civil Rights in America" MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org.