Latino civil rights group sues banks, credit unions for denying loans to eligible DACA recipients
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has been going after financial institutions for allegedly implementing policies that discriminate against eligible DACA recipients by denying them loans and other services based on their immigration status. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, better known as MALDEF, filed its two most recent lawsuits last week. 2017 marked the first time MALDEF legally challenged a financial institution for discriminating against DACA recipients based on their immigration status. That year, MALDEF sued Wells Fargo, arguing that the bank’s policies making DACA recipients ineligible for unsecured consumer credit cards and loans violated federal and state civil rights laws. Wells Fargo eventually settled the class-action suit in 2020 and was required to pay more than $18.7 million to affected DACA recipients and change its lending policies.