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Thomas A. Saenz

MALDEF President and General Counsel

News Releases

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

Aug 25, 2025 | Court Cases Education, Court Cases Immigrants' Rights, News Releases

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.

MALDEF FILES CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT CHALLENGING DISCRIMINATORY POLICY OF A NEW YORK CREDIT UNION

Aug 23, 2025 | Court Cases Immigrants' Rights, DACA, News Releases

NEW YORK — A Latino civil rights organization filed a class-action lawsuit against a New York-based credit union for denying access to loan products to recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and other immigrants solely because of their citizenship status, according to papers filed in federal court on Friday.

FEDERAL COURT DENIES PROPERTY COMPANY’S MOTION TO DISMISS IN HOUSING DISCRIMINATION CASE

Aug 19, 2025 | Court Cases Immigrants' Rights, DACA, News Releases

NEW JERSEY — A federal court has denied a motion to dismiss filed by two defendants in a housing discrimination lawsuit challenging their policy of refusing to rent to recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and other immigrants based solely on immigration status. One of the three defendants, Inverness Apartments, LLC, was dismissed with the possibility of being renamed if evidence shows it is complicit in the discrimination by the other defendants.

ILLINOIS GOV. JB PRITZKER SIGNS BILL PROTECTING EQUAL ACCESS TO PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR IMMIGRANT STUDENTS

Aug 15, 2025 | News Releases, Public Policy Education, Public Policy Immigrants' Rights

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law a bill that would prohibit public schools from denying undocumented children a pre-K-12 public school education because of their actual or perceived immigration status Friday.

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Our History

CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS CHALLENGED ABERCROMBIE & FITCH’S UNLAWFUL HIRING TACTICS ON BEHALF OF LATINO, BLACK AND ASIAN AMERICAN YOUTH

Apr 22, 2022

In the 1990s and the early 2000s, retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, was the hottest place for young people to shop and work. Ubiquitous in malls throughout the U.S., A&F presented a casual “all-American” look that felt exclusive. But that exclusivity was built on...

The Legal Fight to Protect The First Amendment Right of Day Laborers

Dec 13, 2021

MALDEF’s Thomas A. Saenz accompanies a group of day laborers during the height of the challenge to anti-solicitation ordinances enacted by cities in California.Workers who are hired by the day have long been part of the American labor force. In the 19th Century, they...

Celebrating a History of Women Leaders at MALDEF

Mar 28, 2021

Ambassador Vilma Martinez (left) Thomas A. Saenz (center) and Antonia Hernández (right). (Photo taken at MALDEF’s 50th Anniversary Gala in San Antonio, Texas.)As we near the conclusion of Women’s History Month, MALDEF celebrates its organizational history of women in...

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