Description

Now the most populous minority group in the United States, Latino/as increasingly need guidance on the everyday issues that affect their economic livelihood, their freedom, and their equal rights to dignity and opportunity. This comprehensive guide is organized around the three flashpoints that contribute to the unique legal treatment of Latino/as—immigration status, language regulation, and racial/ethnic discrimination. These points are examined in the venues of everyday life for Latino/as—from discrimination in housing to discrimination and language regulation in the workplace, to the lack of protection for immigrant labor, to classrooms where the bilingual education debate rages, to the voting booth and the criminal justice system where Latino/as confront racial profiling and language barriers.

• Conveys complex legal issues in readable, accessible text
• Practical application to home, school, workplace, and community issues as well as encounters with police and immigration authorities
• Guides payment of taxes by documented and undocumented immigrants
• Includes an appendix of public resources available to immigrants
• Shows how to select and work with your immigration lawyer effectively
• One of the authors is the former president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Author Info

Steven Bender, James and Ilene Hershner Professor of Law at the University of Oregon School of Law, is the author of Greasers and Gringos: Latinos, Law, and the American Imagination (New York University Press, 2003).

Raquel Aldana is a human rights attorney and a professor in the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She teaches courses on immigration law, criminal law and criminal procedure, international human rights, and international public law.

Gilbert Paul Carrasco, Professor of Law at Willamette University, is a noted expert on civil rights law, immigration law, and constitutional law. He is the author of three national casebooks on these subjects and numerous law review articles.

Joaquin G. Avila, Professor of Law at Seattle University, is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow and nationally recognized expert on Latino/a voting rights. He teaches courses on civil procedure, constitutional law, voting rights, and Latino/as and the law.

Reviews

“Written with compassion and precision, Everyday Law for Latino/as is an invaluable tool for our farm workers, their advocates, and others as well as for Latino/as of any background or profession. We are thankful to the authors for their dedication to making the tools for justice accessible in this book.”
—Dolores Huerta, Cofounder of the United Farm Workers

“This is a fascinating and useful resource, in effect an instructional manual for advice on the many dimensions of immigration, education, housing, voting rights, consumer rights, language issues, and other legal needs of the Latino population. I predict it will be on the desk of many people who work with this community, and will be dog-eared and bookmarked by most. I expect to use it regularly and to recommend it widely.”
—Michael A. Olivas, University of Houston Law Center

“An essential reference for Latino/as across the United States. Chock full of useful and relevant information, this volume will be virtually indispensable to Latino/as seeking to protect their rights. In clear and precise prose, the book provides basic legal knowledge on issues of critical importance to the Latino/a community, including the law of employment, criminal justice, immigration rights, and much more. Covering a subject per chapter, the book outlines the law in understandable terms—not easy for many lawyers to do—and provides invaluable references to resources with additional information on each topic. Professors Bender, Aldana, Carrasco, and Avila should be congratulated on doing a great service to a community that all too often must face off with the law.”
—Kevin R. Johnson, Dean of the University of California–Davis School of Law