Founded in 1968 with a $2.2 million "seed grant" from the Ford Foundation, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) describes itself as "the leading nonprofit Latino litigation, advocacy and educational outreach institution in the United States." MALDEF's mission is twofold: to "safeguard the civil rights of Latinos" and to "expand the opportunities for Latinos" in American society. MALDEF defines the category of Latinos to encompass both American citizens and illegal aliens. Consequently, the organization supports policies that run counter to American laws, especially American immigration laws.

In the course of its history, MALDEF has undertaken numerous legal campaigns to abet the cause of illegal immigration. In the 1980s, the organization threw its legal clout behind the claims of illegal immigrants in Texas, who demanded a right to a free education in the state at the taxpayers' expense. In a successful lawsuit, MALDEF argued that denying the plaintiffs this "right" was unconstitutional. MALDEF has also brought suit against public colleges and universities, charging that they deny admission to illegal immigrants due to their "perceived immigration status." (The schools have denied the allegation.) In a corollary campaign, MALDEF has sued to compel universities to charge low, in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants. MALDEF also holds that failing to provide bilingual ballots for Hispanic voters is discriminatory, and equates English-language ballots with the racism-inspired literacy tests once used to disenfranchise black voters in the American South.

In 1994, MALDEF condemned Operation Gatekeeper, a U.S. government program intended to restore integrity to a portion of the California-Mexico border, across which many thousands of illegal aliens streamed each year. Condemning this program for callously "diverting" illegal border-crossers "from California to the harsh and dangerous Arizona desert," MALDEF charged that Americans opposing unrestricted immigration were motivated largely by "racism and xenophobia."

MALDEF has repeatedly placed its support for illegal immigration above American national security. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the organization spearheaded a protest campaign against Operation Tarmac, a federal crackdown on airport workers with immigration violations. According to MALDEF, such law-enforcement efforts amounted to "actions that harm the civil rights of Latinos rather than protect them."

Cross posted from Hyscience