Latino Justice PRLDEF

History of Latinojustice PRLDEF

After World War II, Puerto Ricans began migrating to the United States in an effort to attain a better life. These immigrants endured many hardships, including trouble finding employment and not receiving the proper education at school. Another issue was the fact that they were widely viewed as illegal immigrants when in fact they were legal U.S. citizens. On March 12, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson approved the Jones-Shafroth Act, thereby cementing Puerto Ricans' place in the United States. The act separated the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Puerto Rican government, empowered individuals with civil rights, and implemented an elected bicameral legislature; that is, the legislature is divided into two houses: the upper, which is the Senate, and the lower, known as the House of Representatives. The governor of Puerto Rico and the president of the United States retain the right to veto acts passed by the legislature. Moreover, the U.S. Congress has the power to halt any action taken by the legislature. Lastly, the United States maintains control over all mail services, defense, immigration, fiscal and economic matters, and all other basic governmental affairs. This law was passed 19 years after the Spanish ceded Puerto Rico to the United States upon the conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Victor Marrero, Cesar Perales, and Jorge Batista, all lawyers, were the founding fathers of PRLDEF. This program was established in 1972 in an unremarkable building on Second Avenue in New York City to give legal support to the Puerto Rican community. Soon afterward, this new organization was approached by Aspira, a youth development group, with their first legal case. The importance of Latinojustice PRLDEF is that it helps provide Latinos an opportunity to succeed with their education, employment, and voting and to ensure that Latinos have a voice in American democracy.

Latinojustice PRLDEF's First Case

In 1972 the youth development group Aspira approached PRLDEF to request help with a case against the New York City Board of Education.

Aspira is a national nonprofit group committed to leadership development and education of the Puerto Rican community. The name Aspira is derived from the Spanish word aspirar, or aspire in English. In that year there were approximately 1,130,000 registered immigrant students in the United States. Out of that total, 27% (nearly 260,000) were Puerto Rican students who lived in New York. The problem was that few teachers were bilingual and could not help the children who were not proficient in English to get the proper education. Instead of addressing the issue, the board of education ignored it, and those children did not receive the proper education. These children were identified as limited English proficiency (LEP) students.

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