Latino Civil Rights Organizations Will Hold Press Conference to Discuss Lawsuit Challenging Texas Redistricting Maps

Tuesday, October 19, 2021, at 10 am CST

Virtual, Register using this link to receive the zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/5e2kp2y3

Domingo Garcia, LULAC National President;

Nina Perales, MALDEF Vice President of Litigation; Lydia Camarillo, Chairperson Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force and President, SVREP & WCVI; Dr. Stan Paz, President, TALAS; Joey Cardenas, President, Texas HOPE; Russell Ramirez, Texas MABA; Larry Romo, GI FORUM; Juanita Valdez Cox, President, LUPE; Angelica Razo, Texas Mi Familia Vota; and Cesar Espinosa, FIEL Houston.

Background:

The state’s Latino civil and voting rights organizations have filed a lawsuit challenging Texas on its four new redistricting maps: Congressional, State Senate, House, and State Board of Education. The coalition seeks to prevent the use of the maps because they dilute Latino voting strength in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) and the U.S. Constitution.

League of United Latin American Citizens et al v. Abbott, et al. the legal challenge against the redistricting maps, was filed Monday, October 18, 2021, and is pending before Judge David Guaderrama in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division.

The legal challenge was filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), Mi Familia Vota, American GI Forum, La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), Mexican American Bar Association of Texas (MABA), Texas Hispanics Organized for Political Education, Fiel Houston, Texas Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (TALAS), William C. Velásquez Institute (WCVI) and four individuals: Emelda Menendez, Gilberto Menendez, Jose Olivares, Florida Chavez, and Joey Cardenas. The plaintiffs in the case are represented by MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund).

The Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force secured several important legal victories in the 2010 redistricting cycle, including the creation of a new Latino majority state house district in the Rio Grande Valley, the creation of a new Latino majority congressional district in the I-35 corridor, and the restoration of several additional districts across the state that had been diminished in the previous redistricting plans.