Author: mopress

MALDEF FILES SEGREGATION SUIT ON BEHALF OF LATINO CHILDREN

Lawsuit alleges ESL used as a proxy to discriminate against minority students in Dallas public school

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Today, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the nation’s leading Latino legal organization, filed suit in federal district court against the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) and the principal of Preston Hollow Elementary School alleging civil rights violations by segregating and discriminating against
Latino schoolchildren.
The Latino parents represented by MALDEF, Organizacion para el Futuro de los Estudiantes
(OFE), allege that Preston Hollow illegally uses its English as a Second Language program to
segregate Latino and minority students from Anglo students, irrespective of their language
abilities. The documents in the case show that Latino students who are proficient in English are,
nonetheless, channeled into classes masked as “English as a Second Language.” Preston Hollow
organizes its general education classes and even combines some grades to ensure that Anglo
students, who comprise just 18 percent of the school, sit in majority white classrooms.

“Fifty years after Brown v. the Board of Education, it is a shame that segregation continues to plague our schools,” said David Hinojosa, MALDEF staff attorney and lead counsel in the case.

“Using ESL as a proxy to segregate schoolchildren can not be tolerated. This lawsuit is intended to send a message that there is no justification for any school to treat Latino students any differently than white students,” Hinojosa added.

Ms. Lucresia Mayorga Santamaria, lead plaintiff and mother of three children attending Preston
Hollow, stated “The school attempted to omit Latino children from the school brochure because
they did not want the surrounding neighborhood to get the wrong impression. Well, I hope they
all get this impression: we will not stand by any longer because our children deserve the same
opportunities as all other children of Preston Hollow.”

Calling on the leadership of Dallas ISD to now answer Latino parents’ calls for justice, Mr.
Hinojosa added, “We condemn efforts such as these to keep white students together for the sake
of deterring white flight. We call on the superintendent and the Dallas Board to swiftly end the
segregation at Preston Hollow.”

Founded in 1968, MALDEF, the nation’s premier Latino civil rights organization, promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through advocacy, litigation, community education and outreach, leadership development, and higher education scholarships.

Press Release Received via email April 18, 2006

The United Farm Workers and the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation are proud to support the grassroots efforts of the “Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday Coalition”. Go to petition page at:

http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/chavezholiday/ UFW Founder Cesar E. Chavez, stood as one of the heroic figures of the 20th century who inspired millions in our nation into action for economic and social justice, civil rights and political empowerment. He led the historic non-violent movement for farm workers’ rights and was dedicated to building a movement of poor working people that extended beyond the fields and into cities and towns across the nation.

The legacy of Cesar E. Chavez, like the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., serves to educate, inspire, and empower people from all walks of life. Cesar Chavez is a role model for all Americans and the generations to come.

Ask Congress to designate March 31 as Cesar E. Chavez Day to ensure Chavez’ legacy is recognized and celebrated throughout our nation with a federal paid holiday and a day of service and learning in our public schools.

Excerpts from an AP report posted at CBS News

In Houston, Jose Rivera, an immigrant from El Salvador, went to one of the company’s Houston operations to search for information about his 22-year-old son, an IFCO Systems employee who was arrested Wednesday. Rivera said a brother, who worked at an IFCO operation in Louisiana, also was arrested Wednesday.

“I really feel angry because this is an injustice,” he said through a translator. “It’s an injustice because one person, who come from another country, why can’t you work?”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested seven current and former IFCO Systems managers on charges they conspired to transport, harbor and encourage illegal workers to reside in the United States for commercial advantage and private financial gain, said Glenn T. Suddaby, the chief federal prosecutor in Albany, N.Y., where some arrests were made.

German-based IFCO Systems describes itself as the leading pallet services company in the United States, focusing on recycling millions of the wooden platforms used to stack and move all manner of goods. It operates about five dozen facilities nationwide and has been expanding steadily, according to the company’s Web site.

Last week, operators of three restaurants in Baltimore pleaded guilty to similar immigration charges, while nine people affiliated with two temporary employment agencies that do business in New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania were charged in a $5.3 million scheme involving the employment and harboring of illegal aliens.

Last year, Wal-Mart stores agreed to pay $11 million to settle allegations concerning the employment and mistreatment of illegal immigrants.

Wal-Mart has maintained that top executives did not know that cleaning contractors were hiring illegal immigrants, who sometimes slept in the back of the stores. An ICE affidavit unsealed as part of that case asserted that two executives were aware of the practice.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

URGENT PRESS ALERT (April 19, 2006)

PRESS CONFERENCE AND RALLY THURSDAY,
APRIL 20 AT 12AM AT 10 W. JACKSON
BLVRD. MIGRA BUIDING.

Religious leaders, workers and community leaders
decry immoral ICE raids
The community organizations calls upon the Bush
Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement to immediately cease a series of
raids targeting immigrant workers.

On Wednesday, April 19, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officials began a series of raids on
immigrant workers in what reports describe as a
nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
The Associated Press has reported raids in Cincinnati,
Phoenix, Houston, and Albany, and Immigration
and Customs Enforcement will likely lay out a new
enforcement strategy tomorrow.

“This is an unjust and immoral attack on immigrant
workers’ rights. Immigrant workers are being
punished for exercising their freedom of speech
and freedom of assembly.” Kim Bobo, Interfaith
WorkerJustice Executive Director.

In the past month, immigrants’ rights groups have
held a series of massive rallies, with turnout of tens
and even hundreds of thousands in over a hundred
cities. Immigrants rights groups are planning
another national day of action on May 1.

Conferencia de prensa y rally ante
el edificio de inmigración.
10 W. Jackson Blvrd. Chicago

El 19 de abril, en diferentes localidades
de los Estados Unidos el Departamento de
Home Land Security a estado haciendo
redadas de inmigrantes indocumetados, todas
enfocadas a dos empresas que tienen localidades
en diferentes estados del país, hoy 19 de abril
lo ha hecho en la ciudad de Chicago asi como
en Cincinnati, Phoenix, Houston y Albany, nos
parece muy peculiar dado que hemos estado
preparando la manifestación del primero de
mayo.

La posibilidad de que muchas de las personas
que han sido detenidas puedan calificar para
algún tipo de regularización el próximo mes,
cuando se reúna nuevamente el Senado de
los Estados Unidos nos parece sumamente injusto
y es un atentado por parte del Departamento
de Home Land Security contra estas gentes y
una manera de acallar nuestras voces, estan
tratando por medio de el temor a la deportación
de hacer que no nos manifestemos mas, que no
se desarrolle mas este movimiento por los derechos
civiles que en Chicago ha nacido.

Las organizaciones comunitarias unidas al Movimiento
10 de Marzo, estaremos dando una conferencia de
presa y rally enfrente de las oficinas de Inmigración
en la calle Jackson el 20 de abril a las 12:00PM

Received via email April 20 from Roberto Calderon’s list “beto – at – unt.edu”, sourced to Rosalio Munoz “rosalio_munoz – at – sbcglobal.net”