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.