A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the right to vote; freedom from involuntary servitude; and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of their membership in a particular group or class. Statutes have been enacted to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual preference. Civil rights attorneys handle cases involving the rights of individuals to be free from unequal treatment (or discrimination) based on legally-protected characteristics such as race, gender, disability, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and religion. Civil rights cases can arise in a number of settings -- including employment, housing, lending, and education.
El Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in West Texas. According to the United States Census Bureau's 2008 population estimates, the city had a population of 613,910. It is the sixth-largest city in Texas and the 22nd-largest city in the United States. Its metropolitan area covers all of El Paso County. In 2009, the El Paso metropolitan area had a population of 742,062. El Paso stands on the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), across the border from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The image to the right shows Downtown El Paso and Juárez, with the Juárez Mountains in the background. The two cities form a combined international metropolitan area, sometimes called El Paso-Juárez, with Juárez being the significantly larger of the two. Together they have a combined population of 2 million, with Juárez accounting for 2/3 of the population. Given the proximity of the Las Cruces metropolitan area and its population of 201,603, the El Paso-Las Cruces combined population is 943,665 and with Ciudad Juarez, an international combined population of 2,993,313. El Paso is home to the University of Texas at El Paso (founded in 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy, and later, Texas Western College; its present name dates from 1967) and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso. Fort Bliss, one of the largest military complexes of the United States Army, lies to the east and northeast of the city, with training areas extending north into New Mexico, up to the White Sands Missile Range and neighboring Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo. The Franklin Mountains extend into El Paso from the north and nearly divide the city into two sections, the western half forming the beginnings of the Mesilla Valley and with the eastern slopes connecting in the central business district at the south end of the mountain range.