LOS ANGELES -- Hector Villagra has been named to succeed Ramona Ripston as executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, becoming the first Latino to hold the post.

Villagra, 42, the ACLU/SC’s legal director, has played a key role in several high-profile civil rights cases in the region.

“It is a humbling honor to be tasked with leading an organization that has meant so much to Southern California,” Villagra said Monday. “So many diverse communities find themselves in need of civil liberties protections, and I intend to continue this organization’s proud tradition of protecting everyone’s rights.”

An icon in the region’s civil rights community, Ripston announced earlier this year she was stepping down after 38 years. Villagra will succeed Ripston when she retires on February 15, 2011.

“I am elated and thrilled that Hector will succeed me,” Ripston said. “Los Angeles and Southern California must show the rest of the nation what it means to function in a multiethnic, civically engaged society. Hector’s intelligence and experience will make him a leader in that effort.”

A native of Southern California, Villagra earned his law degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1994. He joined the ACLU/SC in 2005, and became legal director in 2009. During his tenure at the ACLU/SC, Villagra has built an impressive record in civil rights litigation.

In 2008, he helped uphold LAPD’s Special Order 40, which prohibits officers from using immigration status to initiate investigations. Special Order 40 helps encourage immigrants to provide information to police and is an important crime-fighting tool.

Villagra was instrumental in helping protect a Buddhist congregation's First Amendment rights to free religious exercise after the City of Garden Grove denied the Quan Am Temple's request for a building permit. The ACLU/SC filed suit against the city in 2006, and later helped secure an agreement that ultimately resulted in a permit.

Villagra also settled a case against the County of San Bernardino where the county jail policy required the removal of the headscarf known as the hijab, forcing Muslim women to violate their religious beliefs.

His selection was confirmed unanimously this month by the board of directors of the ACLU and the ACLU Foundation.

"Hector is ideally suited for the position of executive director,” said Stephen Rohde, chair of the ACLU Foundation. “He has the mind of a brilliant lawyer, the compassion of a community organizer and the people skills to inspire our staff, work closely with board members and encourage support from all our donors and stakeholders."

ACLU President Alan Toy said Hector “has a deep understanding of social justice as it applies to civil rights and constitutionally guaranteed liberties.”

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1923 by author and activist Upton Sinclair. The ACLU of Southern California is the oldest and one of the largest, and most progressive affiliates of the ACLU - the nation’s foremost advocate for individual liberty and equality, and its leading guardian against unwarranted government interference and abuse.

SACRAMENTO – Today the California Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Assembly Bill 540 which allows students who attend at least three years of high school in California and who graduate from a California high school (or receive their GED) to qualify for in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities, regardless of their immigration status. The Court found that federal law did not bar California from offering in-state tuition to all students who meet these requirements.

“The California Supreme Court today upheld AB 540, which permits students to pay in-state tuition rates if they attended California high schools for at least three years and graduated from a California high school,” said Hector Villagra, ACLU/SC legal director. “ It was challenged by anti-immigrant groups who said that it provided educational benefits to undocumented immigrants on the basis of residence, in violation of federal law.”

State lawmakers recognized that it is in the best interest of the state to encourage all California high school graduates, including undocumented students, to pursue higher education. Today the Court upheld these principles.

When AB 540 was enacted in October of 2001, it was the second such provision to become law. Since then, eight other states have enacted similar laws, including Utah, New York, Oklahoma, Washington, Kansas, Illinois, New Mexico, and Nebraska.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, Martinez vs. Regents of the University of California. The ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center were counsel for the amici, which also included the ACLU of Northern California, ACLU of Southern California, ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties and the Orange County Dream Team.

“By upholding AB 540 the court has ensured that California’s colleges and universities remain a viable option for California students, many of whom are likely to remain in state after receiving their degrees. I am happy that the Court has decided that these students should be granted the same opportunity to obtain an affordable education as their classmates,” said Lucero Chavez, an immigrant rights attorney with the ACLU/SC.

The ACLU of Southern California is deeply concerned by federal agents’ abrupt decision to detain and initiate deportation proceedings against an immigrant worker who filed a federal class action lawsuit against a Fullerton-based firm in August for labor and civil rights violations.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE), agents arrested Osfel Andrade Wednesday morning at his home. Andrade is one of four named plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Southern California in August against Terra Universal, Inc.

Agents raided the Fullerton-based manufacturing company in June and arrested 43 workers. The company is currently under investigation by ICE and the U.S. Department of Labor. Terra Universal produces “clean rooms” and other high tech laboratory equipment for NASA and the United States military, as well as the private sector.

Mr. Andrade’s arrest appears to be a direct consequence of having filed the complaint against his former employer for back wages.

Federal officials must protect immigrants who are victims of unscrupulous employers; targeting them for deportation inadvertently aids those who exploit them.

“By singling out and targeting one of four plaintiffs in this lawsuit, ICE sends a very clear and counterproductive message to immigrant workers: if you are a victim of exploitation, don’t complain because you might be deported,” said Jennie Pasquarella, a staff attorney with the ACLU/SC.

“ICE went after a worker who had stood up to defend his rights and claim the back wages owed by his employer,” Pasquarella said. “This action undercuts federal officials’ ability to go after unscrupulous employers by driving immigrant workers further underground.”

Like the workers who were arrested and prosecuted in 2008 at a Postville meatpacking plant in Iowa, Mr. Andrade has provided information to authorities. He is eligible for a visa for victims who assist law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of the perpetrator.

Mr. Andrade and other employees cooperated with investigators by providing evidence of a systematic scheme of workplace exploitation by providing hundreds of payroll and employment documents that corroborate years of unlawful activity.

Terra Universal routinely required its largely immigrant workforce to work overtime hours without pay. The company used a fraudulent time system to evade government scrutiny. It required workers, including Andrade, to clock out at the end of an 8-hour work shift and clock back in as a “second job.” Workers who complained about workplace issues or who suffered injuries were fired, had their pay deducted or their hours reduced and were verbally abused.

The ACLU/SC, along with its co-counsel Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson & Renick filed suit in August on behalf of Andrade and other workers.