Yesterday, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) hosted a news conference along with a number of civil rights leaders and Members of Congress to demand justice for Luis Ramirez, a Mexican immigrant who was residing in Pennsylvania when he was beaten two death by a group of teens. A jury recently acquitted the youth of all serious charges.
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA), Hilary O. Shelton of the NAACP, Mike Lieberman of Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Janet Murguía, of NCLR and Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign stood together with MALDEF to urge federal authorities to fully investigate Ramirez’s slaying and bring hate crime charges against the young men responsible. Also, the group encouraged the Senate to pass the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.” This piece of legislation would strengthen existing federal hate crime laws by allowing the Department of Justice to help in the investigation and prosecution processes in certain bias-motivated cases. It would also provide more authority for the federal government to prosecute violent bias-motivated crimes committed against people on the basis of sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
MALDEF recently launched a Facebook page where you can find up-to-the-minute information on the Luis Ramirez case.
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