LALDEF has a proven record of advocacy, empowerment, and resilience. The organization has helped Latino immigrants with their transition and assimilation into the United States and put them on a path to citizenship.

The LALDEF mission of promoting the rights of all immigrants (with a focus on the Latin American community in the Mercer County area); facilitating access to health care, education, and legal representation; advocating for the integration of immigrants; and fostering intercultural communication to strengthen our communities fit perfectly with the Prosecutor’s Office community outreach efforts.

The goals of LALDEF to increase immigrant integration, raise the social capital of immigrants and provide civic education about rights and responsibilities to working immigrant families, and serving the community at large by creating cross-cultural understanding between native and foreign-born, accepting, and appreciating our differences, while recognizing our common humanity and mutual interest in contributing to a thriving, fair and diverse community are goals that we all can appreciate.

As President Kennedy said in his book, A Nation of Immigrants, “the interaction of disparate cultures, the vehemence of the ideals that led the immigrants here, the opportunity offered by a new life, all give America a flavor and a character that make it unmistakable and remarkable to people.”

I believe in the words of President Reagan who said, “our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands…who seek a better life.”

LALDEF is in the forefront in preparing immigrants for life in Mercer County.