The Civil Rights Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
519 Culebra Road • San Antonio, Texas 78201 • (210) 334-5209

Mission Statement

CRLDEF, Inc.’s mission is to provide, on a national basis, civil rights advocacy, civil rights public policy reform and civil rights community education for the poor and oppressed. The goal of our Civil Rights Program is to eliminate injustice in the areas of education, employment, immigration, voting, and Native America. CRLDEF, Inc. is very serious about its mission.

Organizational History

This non-profit corporation was incorporated in the State of Texas on March 19, 2003 and received its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS on December 12, 2003.  In November of 2005, we received a $5,000 grant from the Rachel and Ben Vaughan Foundation, Inc. Although still in the infancy of our existence, we have begun to make our mark in the civil rights arena.

CRLDEF, Inc. is currently legal counsel for a well-known Native American Rights case in which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inappropriately confiscated eagle feathers from a Native American.  We have also aided local rights organizations with legal research and writing, and have aided the Texas Intertribal Native Enrollment Agency (TINEA) and the Helping Hand of Hope (HHOH) with their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status application.  The HHOH has successfully received their tax-exempt status.

Civil Rights Issues

From the elimination of lawful slavery in 1863 to the elimination of the Jim Crow laws of the South in 1964, the justice system and legislature of the United States have made significant, yet inadequate progress with civil rights. Legal service agencies represent a very small percentage of the legal profession; however, the need for their services represents the majority of the clientele for this profession. Civil rights defense groups are even fewer in number than legal service providers. This important segment of our law needs more organizations. The continued necessity for the protection and promotion of civil rights is evident in current legal defense fund cases addressing poor and oppressed constituencies in the fields of education, employment, immigration, voting, and Native America. The following, except for the Native American Rights section, are not actual cases we have worked on, but are examples of the type of cases CRLDEF, Inc. will accept:

Education – Civil rights legal defense funds have recently worked on issues such as substandard schools, school system accountability, and school financing. One legal defense fund filed a complaint with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights when Chicago’s public school system failed to construct a scheduled high school in its predominantly Latino community of Little Village. After this, the Board of Education approved funding for the project and set a five year deadline for the completion of the new school.

Employment - One prominent legal defense fund case on unfair employment practices involved an up-scale Beverly Hills restaurant that maintained an entirely non-Latino staff of servers and food runners, and an entirely Latino bussing staff. The lead plaintiff was fired after he and others signed a written petition to management seeking an end to unfair tip distribution and other discriminatory practices against the Latino bus staff. That legal defense fund’s ongoing suit challenges the restaurant's pattern of discriminatory hiring and race-based job segregation, as well as the discharging of the plaintiff.

Immigration - The protection of immigrants’ language rights and fair housing were the issues in Veles v. Lindow, a case in which a legal defense fund submitted an amicus brief to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The case challenged a private landlord's policy of refusing to rent to monolingual Spanish-speaking tenants. The legal defense fund's brief argued that such policies have an adverse effect on Latinos and violate federal housing laws.

Voting - The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (MALDEF) filed suit against the Bexar County Commissioner’s Court for closing early voting polls in San Antonio’s minority neighborhoods. The Commissioners closed all 5 west side poles and one South side pole without submitting the closure for pre-clearance from the United States Department of Justice. MALDEF’s intervention was successful and all the poles were ordered reopened.

and Native America - On or about March 11, 2006, at a powwow in Mc Allen, Texas, an agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) confiscated eagle feathers belonging to Mr. Robert Soto, a member of the Lipan Apache Band of Texas. Specifically, the agent seized (1) two golden eagle feathers worn in a ceremonial roach by Mr. Soto; and (2) a ceremonial dance bustle of 42 golden eagle feathers also belonging to Mr. Soto and worn with Mr. Soto’s permission by his brother-in-law Michael Russell, a Native American dancer at the powwow. In a similar case, In the Matter of: JOSELUIS SAENZ  vs. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR  (D.C. No. 99-21-M and US 10^TH Circuit Court No. 00-2166), a federal judge ordered the USFWS to return eagle feathers to the plaintiff, Mr. Saenz. CRLDEF is seeking the same consideration for Mr. Robert Soto. CRLDEF is in the process of following the appropriate administrative procedures within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to have the eagle feathers returned to Mr. Soto. We will update case information as we receive new information. Please feel free to check our "News" section for updates.

There are more cases, like the ones mentioned above, waiting to be investigated and resolved on behalf of the oppressed and disenfranchised minorities that make up CRLDEF, Inc.’s constituency.

No Impact Requirement

CRLDEF, Inc. is unique among legal defense funds. Many legal defense funds have a policy that only allows work on cases that will have a very pronounced and broad impact on the issue involved. CRLDEF, Inc. does not have an impact requirement. We will remain open to cases that may have a more individualized impact, and whose contribution to the national dialogue of an issue is more subtle, yet necessary.

Public Policy

Similar to existing legal defense funds, legal remedies are not CRLDEF, Inc.’s sole approach to changing the face of civil rights. Our public policy program is an integral part of our effectiveness.           

Community Education

CRLDEF will also fill the need for community education about individual rights and how to assert them. Educational seminars about each area of law will be given in schools, churches, and other important venues in the community. Once individuals have completed our seminars, they will understand their rights and how to effectively assert them. Please let us know if there is any way in which we may assist you.

The Civil Rights Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
519 Culebra Road • San Antonio, Texas 78201 • (210) 334-5209