Immigrants’ Rights

MALDEF strives to ensure all immigrants receive fair treatment under the law, and works to combat discriminatory policies in the private and public sectors.

Protecting Immigrants’ Rights

Throughout our history, we’ve been on the frontlines of some of the most important legal battles to protect immigrants’ rights, taking on unconstitutional federal, state, and local measures including California’s Proposition 187, Arizona’s SB 1070, and more recent restrictions in Texas in SB 4. We’ve challenged unlawful detention and raids, fought to protect the right of day laborers to seek work, and defended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative that offers temporary relief to young immigrants brought to this country as children.

Today, MALDEF continues to work to eliminate barriers that prevent immigrants from achieving full integration into society, and to target private anti-immigrant discriminators as well.

Immigrants’ Rights

MALDEF APPEALS COURT RULING IN DISCRIMINATORY LENDING CASE

PHOENIX – A Latino civil rights organization is appealing a district court decision to compel arbitration in a class-action lawsuit against a Texas credit union. The lawsuit challenged GECU Federal Credit Union’s (GECU) policy of unlawfully refusing to consider loans and financial services to certain immigrants because of their status rather than their credit-worthiness.

MALDEF SEEKS TO INTERVENE ON BEHALF OF STUDENTS TO DEFEND KENTUCKY TUITION POLICY

FRANKFORT, KY – A Latino civil rights organization has filed a motion to intervene in a federal-government lawsuit seeking to eliminate the regular tuition rates paid by most students in Kentucky for students without lawful immigration status living in Kentucky, according to papers filed in federal court Friday. Kentucky is among four states whose duly-enacted tuition laws have now been challenged by the Trump administration.