[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 31, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E490-E491]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE PUBLIC SERVICE OF ANTONIA HERNANDEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 31, 2004

  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, today, my colleagues Mr. Anibal 
Acevedo-Vila, Mr. Joe Baca, Mr. Xavier Becerra, Mr. Dennis Cardoza, Mr. 
Charlie Gonzalez, Mr. Raul Grijalva, Mr. Luis Gutierrez, Mr. Ruben 
Hinojosa, Mr. Robert Menendez, Ms. Grace Napolitano, Mr. Solomon Ortiz, 
Mr. Ed Pastor, Mr. Silvestre Reyes, Mr. Ciro Rodriguez, Ms. Linda 
Sanchez, Ms. Loretta Sanchez, Mr. Jose Serrano, Ms. Hilda Soils, Mr. 
Nydia Velazquez and I join together to honor the career of Antonia 
Hernandez as President and General Counsel of the Mexican American 
Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a nationally recognized 
non-profit organization. Through the legal system, community education, 
research and advocacy MALDEF is dedicated to protecting the civil 
rights of the nation's 40 million Latinos. We would like to take this 
opportunity to congratulate Ms. Hernandez on her 23 years of 
distinguished service at MALDEF and to thank her for her tireless 
advocacy on behalf of the Latino community in this country.
  In so many ways, Antonia Hernandez is a role model for all Americans. 
Born in Mexico, she and her family moved to the United States when she 
was only 8 years old. They settled in the Maravilla area of East Los 
Angeles where her father supported his wife and six children as a 
gardener and laborer. As the eldest child, Antonia Hernandez learned 
English quickly and excelled in school. She would later go on to attend 
UCLA where she received her bachelor's degree, teaching certificate 
and, in 1974, her law degree.
  Soon after passing the California State Bar exam, Antonia Hernandez 
became a U.S. citizen. She later told a Los Angeles Times reporter that 
her patriotism to this country helped to inspire her interest in public 
service. ``I love (this country) more than most because I don't take 
the rights and privileges of an American citizen for granted. I 
remembered there was a knot in my throat when I took the oath (of 
citizenship),'' The Los Angeles Times reported in 1985.
  An expert in civil rights and immigration issues, she began her legal 
career as a Staff Attorney with the Los Angeles Center for Law and 
Justice and worked as counsel to the United States Senate Committee on 
the Judiciary under the leadership of Senator Edward Kennedy. In 1981, 
Ms. Hernandez joined MALDEF as Regional Counsel in Washington, DC. Ms. 
Hernandez was elected to MALDEF's presidency in 1985 where she was 
responsible for directing all litigation and advocacy programs, 
managing a $6.2 million annual budget, and supervising a 75 person 
staff.
  Ms. Hernandez's management expertise guided the organization to long-
term financial stability. In 1991, she created a permanent endowment 
for MALDEF by raising funds for the national headquarters building in 
Los Angeles. She has been pivotal in overseeing the national expansion 
of the organization, which today has offices in Chicago, Houston, 
Sacramento, Washington DC, San Antonio, and Atlanta. Most recently, Ms. 
Hernandez directed the opening of the Atlanta office in 2002, to serve 
the burgeoning Latino population in the Southeast.
  A tireless champion for educational equity, Ms. Hernandez has 
numerous accomplishments in this area. She led MALDEF's legal challenge 
to the state of Texas in Edgewood Ind. Sch. Dist. v. Kirby to counter 
the economic and racial disparities used in financing Texas public 
schools. This legal battle, which began in 1984, ended successfully in 
1995 when the Texas Supreme Court held that the Texas legislature had 
the authority to require wealthier school districts to share their 
funding with poorer districts, in turn creating an educational system 
that provides greater opportunities for all Texas children.
  In California, MALDEF successfully challenged a similar school 
financing system in Godinez v. Davis. The state had a system that 
short-changed urban schools while providing more money to suburban 
areas. This case resulted in the award of hundreds of millions of 
dollars for urban area schools, many with a significant number of 
Latino students.
  Antonia Hernandez fought for the rights of limited-English proficient 
students by mounting a case against the Denver School District in 1984 
for their lack of programs to educate non-English speakers. As a result 
of their legal victories, MALDEF won the creation of noted bilingual 
and multicultural programs for the Latino students of Denver.
  Antonia Hernandez also won key victories for Latino students by 
expanding their access to higher education. In 1993, MALDEF was 
victorious in LULAC v. Richards, where the Texas Supreme Court ruled 
that the lack of higher education programs in the predominantly Latino 
area of South Texas violated the state constitution.
  Under Ms. Hernandez's leadership, MALDEF helped to secure the right 
for undocumented students in California to attend state universities. 
In 2001, MALDEF developed a successful grassroots campaign in support 
of legislation that allows undocumented students in California to 
enroll at any

[[Page E491]]

publicly financed California university for the same cost as other 
state residents. To further this effort nationwide, in 2003, she 
established the Ellen and Federico Jimenez Scholarship Fund for 
undocumented students who are ineligible for state or federal financial 
school assistance. This scholarship makes the critical difference in 
the lives of students who would otherwise be unable to afford the cost 
of a higher education
  As a mother of three children, Antonia Hernandez also realizes the 
tremendous influence parents have in lives of their children. That's 
why, under her leadership, MALDEF graduated thousands of parent leaders 
from its Parent School Partnership (PSP) program, which instructs 
parents on how to become involved in their children's education.
  In the area of employment, Antonia Hernandez has provided 
opportunities for Latinos by mounting legal battles for fair hiring 
practices. Her work on the landmark legal case of Ballasteros v. Lucky 
forced the food service industries to allow Latinos to work in every 
major grocery chain in California. The victory resulted in the hiring 
of Latinos in several hundred retail stores.
  Antonia Hernandez has been a tenacious defender of immigration 
reform. Working with Congress and state governments, she has been a 
devoted advocate on behalf of fair and just immigration reform. Most 
notably, in 1985, MALDEF successfully halted the implementation of 
California's Proposition 187, which would have barred immigrants from 
receiving public education, medical services, and other public 
benefits.
  Underlying all of MALDEF's efforts is a steadfast commitment to 
political empowerment in the Latino community. With this in mind, under 
Antonia Hernandez's leadership, MALDEF has vigorously defended the 
Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1982, she helped to create a new section 
of the Act that explicitly outlaws discriminatory election practices. 
She also championed a bilingual provision to protect limited-English 
proficient voters. In order to ensure a strong political voice for 
Latinos throughout the country, MALDEF led nationwide census outreach 
campaigns in 1990 and 2000. Over the years, MALDEF has won many Latino-
majority voting districts, one of which resulted in the first Latino 
seat in 100 years in Los Angeles County (1990 Garza v. County of L.A.) 
and another which created the state of Illinois' first Latino 
Congressional district as a remedy for past discrimination in the 
Chicago area (1995 King v. Illinois State Board of Elections).
  Antonia Hernandez has worked to ensure that Latinos receive their 
fair share of public services, including access to medical insurance, 
language translation for public services, and fair and equitable 
treatment in land-use decisions. Just one example is the 2001 case in 
which MALDEF won a case against the City of Poth, a South Texas town 
that finally agreed to pave the streets in its Latino neighborhoods.
  Mr. Speaker, Ms. Hernandez is a visionary. Through her work at 
MALDEF, her service to the Latino community has truly improved lives 
and helped to carry out the organization's unwavering mission to remove 
obstacles that prevent the Latino community from realizing its dreams. 
We thank her for her many years of public service and we are grateful 
that she will continue her work in the community as she moves on to 
serve as President and CEO of the California Community Foundation. Her 
courage, compassion, and, above all, her dedication to helping others 
have made a difference at MALDEF and in the Latino community. We trust 
that this is indeed not an end to her work in public service, but a new 
beginning to even greater victories ahead.

                          ____________________