MALDEF and Community Coalition Reach Agreement With City of Albuquerque on Policies Against Local Enforcement of Federal Immigration Law

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Today, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the nation’s leading Latino legal organization, and a coalition of community organizations led by El CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos announced that the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and the city of Albuquerque have agreed to implement new police procedures related to the city’s policy against local enforcement of federal immigration laws. The new procedures clearly state that Albuquerque police are not to engage in investigating a person’s immigration status nor are they to enforce federal civil immigration laws.

MALDEF Challenges Exclusion of Military Veterans From State Education Program

SAN ANTONIO, TX – Today, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the nation’s leading Latino legal organization, filed suit in federal district court challenging the exclusion of certain military veterans from the Texas Hazlewood Act, which provides a tuition waiver at Texas public colleges and universities. Although the program is intended to further the education of honorably-discharged Texas veterans, the State excludes from the Hazlewood tuition exemption those veterans who were not U.S. citizens at the time they entered the service, including those veterans who subsequently became citizens during wartime and thus served as citizens in defense of the United States. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include two honorably-discharged Texas veterans who are naturalized U.S. citizens as well as the American GI Forum of Texas, a veteran’s advocacy organization.