Latino Immigration

MALDEF

The Mexican American Legal Defence and Educational Fund is an organisation operating from four regional offices in Los Angeles, CA, San Antonio, TX, Chicago, IL and Washington D.C. It works to protect the rights of Latino immigrants throughout the US. It was founded in 1968 and is described as the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organisation. The mission statement explains that MALDEF aims to promote social change through advocacy, communications, community education and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights and political access.

There are a number of ways in which MALDEF aims to meet this mission statement. They try to implement programmes which bring Latinos into central American life, politically, socially and economically. They also aim to provide better educational opportunities for Latinos, encourage participation in all aspects of society and offer a positive vision for the future which Latinos can strive for and work towards. These are several ways in which they are able to improve the lives of Latino immigrants and help with the assimilation of Latinos into American life.

MALDEF has also been successful in its work in the US courts. They have fought a number of successful cases at all levels which have helped reinforce and maintain the rights of Latino immigrants. They fought and won two major supreme court cases. The first of which was Plyler v. Doe in 1982. This case saw MALDEF win a decision that struck down a state law in Texas that allowed districts to alter educational funding for children of undocumented immigrants. This victory opened up doors in terms of education for many immigrants and their children.

FAIR

The Federation for American Immigration Reform is an organisation that seeks to influence and gain support for immigration reform in the US. They are a non-profit, non-partisan organisation that believes that American immigration laws need to be reformed in order to better serve the needs of current and future generations of Americans. They have support from almost 50 private business and 1.3 million diverse members and supporters. They work for their supporters in the absence of party alliances or connections with special interest groups. They have been a leading force in advocating immigration reform for over 35, offering solutions and ideas on reform.

The mission statement of explains that FAIR aims to educate and increase public awareness of immigration issues, as well as offering solutions, holding politicians and leaders accountable and ensuring that the public's voice is heard. They wish to bring immigration in the US to a more reasonable level, wishing to reduce the number of legal immigration from 1 million a year to 300,000 a year while working to eliminate illegal immigration. They believe that this is best for America as it allows America to more sensibly manage its growth, address its environmental needs and provide  better quality of life for Americans. They achieve all of this by advocating and offering policies that they believe but American citizens first as opposed big business and special interest groups

Sources
https://maldef.org/
http://www.fairus.org/