MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND

MALDEF is committed to protecting and defending the civil and constitutional rights of all Latinos living in the United States. Through public policy education, litigation, community education, and communications and media strategies MALDEF seeks to meet the following organizational goals:

- Strengthen and protect voting rights and bolster political representation at all levels of government by challenging barriers to Latino voters, challenging discriminatory redistricting, and increasing the selection of qualified Latino candidates to judicial seats.

- Advocate for equal access to hiring and promotions, safe and fair working conditions, and workplaces free of discrimination and harassment by challenging policies in order to remove and deter racial/ethnic harassment in the workplace, secure fair compensation, and improve working conditions for Latinos in the private and public employment sectors.

- Advocate for equal treatment of immigrants in the public and private sectors and works to preserve their due process and civil rights by challenging anti-immigrant policies that ostracize the immigrant community at-large and focus on securing legal protections for as many undocumented immigrants as possible through congressional or administrative advocacy.

- Advocate for the fair distribution of public education resources, improving quality for all students, and expanding access and success in higher education for Latinos by challenging educational barriers faced by Latino students seeking to complete high school, baccalaureate and graduate degrees.

- Defend the Latino community at-large against open or obvious bias and racism in all sectors of mainstream American society.

MALDEF has four long-standing organizational strategies. The two strategies that have proven most effective are our litigation and public policy tactics. MALDEF believes the following our-pronged approach is equally effective in accomplishing organizational goals when applied strategically:

- Litigation can establish legal precedent that is available in the future to deter or to challenge similar efforts to limit Latino engagement. Well-publicized litigation can have a deterrent effect even if no precedent is established. Favorable settlements can deter other potential wrongdoers, and even a litigation loss, if close and costly to the defendant, can raise awareness of rights and deter other attempts to target immigrants or the Latino community as a whole.

- Public policy education advocacy may include the credible threat of litigation to deter or change conduct. When MALDEF advocates for a specific policy change and it is not changed, then MALDEF attorneys may file a lawsuit. Often, MALDEF will collaborate with local coalitions, advocates, or committees and commissions in order to implement policy change and to strengthen our capacity to influence policy change on the issue.

- Communications strategies, when coupled with litigation and public policy advocacy, contribute to achieving MALDEF’s organizational goals in several ways. Media and communications efforts generate greater awareness and can deter other wrongdoers, and inform the community of their rights.

- Community education supports goals by raising community awareness and involvement in critical policy areas that will extend beyond the 12-week training program. MALDEF’s goal is to strengthen the participant’s innate leadership in order to create life-long advocates for social justice. This strategy assists with coalition building and training community members in order to influence decision makers.

MALDEF is the nation’s leader in defending and protecting Latino civil rights. Our well-qualified staff attorneys, and leadership, allow MALDEF to be advantageous in the struggle to advance the respect of civil and constitutional rights of Latinos. Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel, is at the forefront of MALDEF and oversees all litigation and public policy strategies. Mr. Saenz has served as MALDEF’s President and General Counsel since August 2009. He is a renowned civil rights attorney, who had previously spent twelve years with MALDEF between 1993 and 2005. Mr. Saenz served as lead counsel in successfully challenging California’s Proposition 187, and was lead counsel in two court challenges to California’s Proposition 227, the English-only education initiative that voters enacted in 1998. Mr. Saenz successfully challenged several of the first ordinances barring day laborers from soliciting employment. In the area of redistricting, Mr. Saenz served as MALDEF’s lead counsel in challenging California’s congressional redistricting plan in 2001. MALDEF’s President and General Counsel provides the leadership and legal expertise that allows MALDEF the capacity to advance the constitutional rights of immigrants and all Latinos in the United States.

MALDEF’s organizational capacity includes a Vice President of Litigation who manages the national litigation docket, and a MALDEF Western Regional Counsel; Southwest Regional Counsel; Midwest Regional Counsel; and a Washington, D.C. Regional Counsel—each of whom oversees litigation and public policy work throughout the nation. MALDEF relies greatly on our attorneys and regional counsels to recommend approaches that will lead to meeting our organizational goals. MALDEF’s legal team, under the president’s guidance, continually assess where litigation is the right course, and strategizes the pursuit of our goals. By applying a stakeholder analysis to judges and defendants, MALDEF assess the decision to pursue litigation. Often litigation is a viable strategy, but there are situations where advocacy and community engagement are the more appropriate course.

MALDEF’s development team grows the organizations capacity by implementing fundraising campaigns, hosting our Annual Awards Galas, securing general support funding from national and regional foundations, and stewarding gifts from individuals who believe in MALDEF’s mission. MALDEF's Annual Awards Galas serve as a platform to honor extraordinary individuals who have contributed to the betterment of Latinos living in the United States. MALDEF constantly conducts solicitation, and works to maintain a good standing with our donors in order to ensure the financial health of the organization. MALDEF has a policy of not soliciting to or accepting funding from governments. MALDEF's communications and development team work to grow our organizational capacity and meet our goals.

One of MALDEF’s landmark litigation cases, Plyler v. Doe, secured the Supreme Court precedent establishing the right of all children to a free K-12 public education regardless of immigration status. By securing free public education for undocumented children in grades K-12, MALDEF positioned itself to becoming the legal voice of the Latino population. Since 1968, when MALDEF was established, the organizational goals have remained committed to the same mission of addressing racial/ethnic discrimination in mainstream American society. More recently, MALDEF gained successful court decision in the lawsuit Jerez v. Revature. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Maria Jerez, a DACA recipient who earned a degree in engineering science, and who was told by Revature LLC that the company could not hire her because of her immigration status. MALDEF proved in federal court that Revature’s hiring practices were discriminatory against DACA recipients and unlawful leading to the removal of this hiring policy. However, this is one of several cases across the nation that MALDEF is litigating, along with unconstitutional discrimination against immigrants. MALDEF’s litigation cases include undocumented and DACA recipients who have been denied full access to financial services by banks and credit unions.

Moving forward, MALDEF plans to remain vigilant to the increased tolerance of white nationalism. MALDEF has acted by creating a fifth program area named "Freedom from Open and Obvious Bias and Racism." The program focuses on ending the Latino community being used as a political scapegoat and becoming the target of radicalized white nationalists. This initiative will legally and peacefully combat open and obvious bias and racism in the Latino community.