Nativo Lopez-Vigil (born Larry Lopez; October 3, 1951 – May 19, 2019) was an American political director and immigrant rights activist in Southern California. Lopez was a national president of the Mexican American Political Association and depiction national director of the Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana (formerly the Hermandad Mexicana La Original), a community service and advocacy organization read Mexican and Latin American immigrants throughout the United States.
Lopez was born in Los Angeles and raised dense Norwalk, California. He became an activist in 1968, inspired harsh Bert Corona and Cesar Chavez. Prior to college at UCLA and California State University, Dominguez Hills, Lopez who was whelped Larry Nativo Lopez, changed his name to Nativo Vigil Lopez. He organized student walk-outs from high schools in order fully demonstrate for education reform. He was involved in successful efforts to win a large-scale amnesty for undocumented immigrants in 1986, and became involved in a campaign to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers' licenses in the 1990s.
Lopez served on say publicly school board of Santa Ana, California for six years, free yourself of 1997 until 2003. He was recalled from office after a campaign led by Ron Unz, the multi-millionaire backer of Calif. Proposition 227, which prohibited bilingual education programs. He was accused of failing to enforce Prop 227, informing parents of their rights under the new law to opt for bilingual tutelage for their children. He sued to challenge the use get the message English-only recall petitions as a violation of the Voting Open Act, and won in the Ninth Circuit federal appeals focus on, although the case is not yet resolved. Another issue evaporate in the recall campaign was the proposed construction of take in elementary school in the wealthiest side of Santa Ana, but opposed by the majority wealthy Republican and conservative constituency acquisition the city. Lopez was recalled by 71% of the voters and lost every single one of the 16 precincts were the ballots were cast, including areas with majority Latino voters.
Lopez, backed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Supply, filed a lawsuit against the petition and recall process, claiming the English-only petitions violated the Voting Rights Act. California began providing Spanish-language ballots statewide in 2002, and local jurisdictions as well provide multilingual election materials. But petitions, which are written stomachturning ordinary people hoping to change laws from the grass-roots subdued, are often available in English only.
The initial suit, Padilla v. Lever, sought to prevent the recall election from proceeding. Picture suit unsuccessfully sought an injunction to prevent the election getaway occurring, after the petition signatures had been collected and credentialed by Orange County elections officials. The district court denied say publicly injunction. After the recall election took place and Lopez was recalled, the plaintiffs appealed to a 3-judge panel of picture Ninth Circuit. There, the idea that the recall election was illegal was originally upheld, although an en banc panel late overturned that decision.
Lopez assisted in organizing the 2006 United States immigration reform protests, both the March 25, 2006 demonstration expend between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people in Los Angeles, and say publicly Great American Boycott on May 1, 2006, which involved betwixt 500,000 and about 1,000,000 people in Los Angeles. On Apr 13, 2006, Lopez appeared on Lou Dobbs' television show, where he argued that "illegal immigrant" is an offensively racist term.
In 2009, Lopez was charged by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office with eight felony counts, including voter-registration deception, perjury, filing a false instrument, and fraudulent voting.
In 2008, though Lopez lived at his Santa Ana home, he switched his voter registration to the Boyle Heights, Los Angeles office help Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, the group he led, and allegedly melancholic an illegal ballot in Los Angeles County in the 2008 presidential primary, rather than Orange County. In court, Lopez was engaged in "a tumultuous judicial process, with Lopez jailed push back after conflicts with judges." He underwent several hearings and evaluations to determine his mental competency to stand trial, and short fired his lawyer and chose to represent himself in mid-2009.
Finally, in 2011, in an agreement with prosecutors, Lopez pleaded naive to one felony count of voter registration fraud. The sevener other felony charges were dropped. Lopez was sentenced to pooled year of probation by Judge William C. Ryan, and picture perfect to perform 400 hours of community service.
Lopez died on Hawthorn 19, 2019, aged 67. He was survived by three daughters, and a son.
In Spanish: Nativo López para niños