Latest / The Lawtino™ / Hector Tamayo President of San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association

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Hector Tamayo President of San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association · The Lawtino™

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Latino podcast where we discuss the intersection of law and our Latino communities with legal, political, and community leaders and visionaries.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get started.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: Hey Sean Gomez.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to our next episode of The Latino, where we talk about the intersection of law in our Latino communities.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm joined today by my co-host David Arrighin, who, as you probably know, if you're a loyal listener, was originally a guest on the podcast.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: And today he's my co-host and has come into the firm as an attorney with Gomez Trial Attorneys.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'll introduce our guest here in a moment, but this episode, as always, is brought to you by Gomez Trial Attorneys.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: We are a binational, bicultural, and best-in-class law firm.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: We offer uh the very highest of legal representation and services in both the English and Spanish languages to consumers harmed by personal injury, employment, torts, uh, civil rights abuses, mass torts, and class actions involving uh defective products.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Today uh we're joined by a very special guest, Hector Tamayo.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: He is uh a longtime, well-regarded um member of our San Diego legal community.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: He has an amazing practice, really focused on, I would say, high-end criminal defense work.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: And as perhaps most relevant to our discussion today is the incoming president of La Raza Lawyers.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: We're going to talk about that, his vision for the organization in these troubling times.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, but we'll start first, as always, by kind of getting to know you a little bit, man.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, where you grew up, all that kind of thing.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I was born in 1975.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: I was born in San Diego.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: I was raised in Chula Vista.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: I my I uh my family, we owned uh own a business in Chula Vista, Otai Farms.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we've had it, it's been open since 1962.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: It was started by my father and his brother and my grandfather.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: And we actually used to farm.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's why it's called Otai Farms.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: We actually used to farm down there.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: And quick shout-out on the tortillas.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the tortillas are really good.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, they're amazing.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: The tortillas and the bread are very good.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: Hence hence hoy como soy.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: But but uh right during the quarter on what is that?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Main and Broadway.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Main and Broadway, yes.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: And let's see, I graduated in 1993 from Army Navy Academy.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: Thereafter, I went to USC for a couple of years, and then I joined, I enlisted in the Marine Corps, uh, and then I went to San Diego State.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: I went to junior college first, and then I transferred to San Diego State.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: And then um a couple years later, I enrolled at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, passed the bar in 2006, and I opened up my practice immediately.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't uh I interned I externed for a federal judge my third year of law school for Judge Robert M.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: Takasugi in the central district.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: I interned for the public defender's office uh my last year, and then I proceeded to open up my own office, and I actually opened up my first office in the alley behind um my family store.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: And that was it.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: Started hustling cases from the point forward.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: So uh so what made you turn in the direction of law?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: Are there any lawyers in your family?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: No, I'm the first lawyer in my family, but there's a joke we used to say my grandfather was actually the first lawyer in the family.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: Because my grandfather was my grandfather was a very hard worker, but he was definitely a how would you say, he was an interesting guy.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um was he the Otai Farms guy?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: He was yeah, he's one of the he was uh my yeah, it was Otai Farms.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: The um he never how about this?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: He had plenty of tickets.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'll just put it to you that way.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: So he was at the courthouse very often, and he would um often be at the court so often he he would wind up helping people there.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: So he was kind of like a little go-to guy.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Would he buy the tickets or would he just go and actually, you know, yeah, he would fight.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he would just he would fight his tickets, he would start figuring out everything and how it works.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: So I sometimes I say my thought that was the first lawyer in the family.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so what what did he think about your choice to go into law?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, he passed away before uh he could real he could see me realize that dream.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: But um I'm sorry.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: My father, my father passed away as well, but he got to see me realize my dream, and my father was very, very proud of me.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: And my father was actually um that's he's I I I don't want to I I don't know if it's okay for me to really speak so much about him, but he was definitely very influential in my life.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: My father uh was uh class of 56 in at um at San Diego State University, and I remember when I first took my first Chicano studies classes in undergrad, and you know, I learned about the movement and about people, you know, in education, and I went to my dad and I go, Dad, you graduated from San Diego State in the 50s, man.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: You were a rare, rare exception.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: And he goes, Oh, I don't know.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so then two days later he comes with me and he goes, Fuck, Junior.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: If there was nine Mexicans at San Diego State when I was there, that was probably too many.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, it was like kind of one of those self-realizations of you know what he did.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry for my use of the F-word.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, no, but no.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: We don't care, yeah.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: But no, it was he was like, you know, it was something to see him, and then he he actually taught for a couple years, and then he taught taught at high school.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, cool.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then um he taught high school for like a year, and then he decided to go in the business with his family.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so was he you talked about like the movement and him being in San Diego State way back in the day when it was him and Monty Montezuma, the other two dudes that little bad yeah.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like uh was he, did he have a heart for the movement?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: So let me tell you, since my dad was a product of, you know, the you know, he was born in the 30s, the 40s, the 50s, he was kind of more of the old school, um, you know, like the Lions Club, yeah, those types of those types of organizations.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: And he was definitely active in that.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they would have, they would go down to La Paz and feed the children.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: They had their blind uh children's initiatives.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he was very involved in the community.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: They would um it was a it's a now de I mean, the Lions Club is pretty much non-existent now, or I mean very, very little, there's not as many around as there were, but back then there was he was a member of the Montgomery Lions Club, and they would uh feed families during Thanksgiving, they would have pancake breakfasts.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: He was very, very active.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so you what about you?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: You said you know, at some point either at USC or maybe junior college or San Diego State, you you took some Chicano studies.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so how did talk to us about a young Hector and having exposure to to this stuff and how how you responded?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: I think the the most influential uh Chicano studies I had class I had was U.S.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: history, Chicano Perspectives.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_03: And that was uh definitely an eye-opener to the contributions of Latinos to our country.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: And at that time, I was very heavily, you know, I was very uh focused on joining the Marine Corps, and uh just reading about the contributions of Latinos to our armed forces was something that was very, very uh influential to me and realizing that we have a place in this country, we belong in this country, we are Americans.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the Chicano department at San Diego State has been doing great.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean me growing up in Tijuana, I was not familiar with the Chicano and like the Californians or the US.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I was also fortunate to take like three classes of Chicano studies, including music, uh at San Diego State.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: So go ahead, of course.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it just opens your eyes.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, it's like there is a place for one here, right?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, definitely.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: So so how come like you're you're a college kid at USC to begin with, like kind of fancy kid, not fancy, but you know, you know, I know USC, you know, always they always recruited like promising Latinos.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like there, I know a lot of dudes that went there, but then you go from that to enlisting in the Marine Corps.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how'd you come up with that plan?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: Well, so how about this?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: Just to be frank, I did so well at USC I had to leave.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: So I joined the Marine Corps to serve my country and to get my head out of my ass.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, basically.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_03: Did someone talk to you about that, or you come up with that plan yourself?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: So when I was going, so what happened was you know, I I graduate from military school, and you know, it's very highly structured, highly rigid environment.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: I do very well, I excel in that environment, and then I'm left at USC to my own devices.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: So my mother was the first one to notice and told me, You should you need to join the army, damn it.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: Or she wouldn't say, damn it, my mother never cussed me.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: You need to join the army, and I was like, I'm not gonna do that.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: And then, you know, then slowly but surely I started saying, you know what?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna join the Marine Corps because I wanted a challenge.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, so that's why that's what I did.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I wanted to serve my country.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so talk to us a little bit about what you did for the in the Marine Corps.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: In the Marine Corps, I actually went to I went to boot camp, and then I went to platoon leaders course.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: I got injured, that was to become an officer.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: Then I went to my unit and I served as a nuclear biological and chemical weapons analyst.
• 10:34
  unknown: Wow.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: As a clerk.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so where were you stationed?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: I was at Camp Pendleton in the reserves.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, like I was a federal prosecutor for a time.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and at that time we had some discretion.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like I would do border crimes, which you're familiar with.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so too familiar with heck.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: So back then we would do uh we would prosecute uh marijuana loads, you know.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like I don't think they do that anymore.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but maybe they do, or they send it to state.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: But um back then we would do that.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: I remember like I had the ability on like a marijuana case, like if the kid was like a nice kid, I could um suspend the, I don't know what they call it, defer the prosecution.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I put I put like uh three or four kids in the Marines.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Oh nice, yeah, yeah, like male, and I'm sure like like you, they probably came out, you know, better intended and better directed and with better purpose.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, definitely uh refocused.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: Nah definitely.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: And with a sense of purpose and a sense of uh duty.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, talk to us about your uh legal practice now, the kind of work you do for people.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: So right now, I my practice is primarily criminal defense with some civil rights cases here and there.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: I've been uh I'm in my 20th year of practice.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: I am currently on the Criminal Justice Act panel, taking indigent cases from the federal panel, as well as the Office of Assigned Counsel for the County.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I get appointed cases by them and I have my own private practice, and usually that's by word of mouth and um you know my website, things of that nature.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, that's what I do.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_03: I um I started taking on really heavy cases from the gate out of the gate.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_03: I always tell people that my first case is probably one of the most serious cases I've ever taken on.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was a five-count felony case, very, very nasty facts.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um I uh I don't think I slept for like 90 days.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think I was just reading the law, constantly calling my mentor, shout out to Jeff Larrenmore and to Andrés Bustamante in Los Angeles.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and they just they they guided me through it and I got through that case, and thereafter, I mean I just started getting different cases from that point forward.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: But it was a very serious case.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so 20 years in, uh do you like it still?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: You know what it I do, I do, I do.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you know, the thing is is that every once in a while you gotta recharge your battery, but my battery's easily recharged just thinking about the constitution and my role as a criminal defense attorney and ensuring people's rights are observed and respected and advocating for your client.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I mean, there's no greater honor than to represent a person, I think, in my opinion.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: There's no greater honor than to defend a constitution, which is I think something that is very very important now, especially now in these troubling times.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, sir.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so what about um how do you see the criminal justice system maybe disproportionately or unfairly or um otherwise impacting the Latino community?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's a systemic issue.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's that's uh my opinion.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: I think that we're s we're still you know, it's like one of the missions of La Raza is to increase the diversity on the bench in the bar.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: And we we' we're we're we're not all the way there yet.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, if you go into a criminal courtroom, uh a courthouse, primarily it's minorities, a lot of Latinos here in San Diego.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: Umic, cultural um do that's a that's a question that I need to ponder on in terms of uh you know, do I feel that there's unfair treatment?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_03: Do I feel that we have mechanisms in place that adequately address that sys that systemic unfairness?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: I think we're getting there.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think as a state of California we're getting there, but as a country we're not.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, um, I know that you know, a big part of what La La Rasa does is, you know, try to increase representation, like you said, both in the bar and on the bench.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, right now in California, the numbers, you know, of licensed attorneys are very, very low.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Latino attorneys compared to the the population as a whole.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I know that that you're doing great work to try to address that that through some outreach and scholarship work.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: And you see, um, I mean, at least my um observation, like kind of anecdotally, is uh every year, whatever the the La Raza events are, they get bigger and bigger and bigger.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like every year, and all the judges go now, and all the because I think it I don't know, like I I used to feel like okay, there were this and that, and you know, I don't want to there's other bar groups, obviously.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: No, but I mean San Diego La Raza lawyers, I mean, we're the biggest affinity bar organization in the county.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we have a lot of we have a well-established history, a well-established track record.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: We put on these great events, we give scholarships, and one of the focuses of my presidency that I really want to address is uh commute, you know, working with the community, especially in times, and especially in these times with ICE enforcement.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um that's one of the things that I kind of uh mentioned in my speech when I accepted it at the gala, when I accepted the presidency at the gala, is I mean, we have children being locked up in cages right now, and we have due process being trampled on, we have uh racial profiling, which has definitely been condoned by our Supreme Court, and it's something that definitely affects our community as Latinos, because I mean we're the target, and it affects our country, it affects the soul of our country.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what men have died for um to defend this country, or put their uh names on the daughter line saying that I'm going to uphold and defend the constitution, and it's being trampled on.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: And this cause this is a great country.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: I love this country.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think I'm I don't think I hide that.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: I love this country.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: And uh it's it's something that I think that as San Diego La Raza lawyers, we have an obligation to address these issues with the community to actually get down hands-on, you know, whatever it is, whatever kind of assistance uh, you know, these uh folks on the ground need, whether it's our membership getting on the ground, or whether it's uh fundraising for organizations that got their boots on the ground, that are on the front lines of uh of you know, uphold you know, of what's fair, of what's right, what's humane, what uh human rights really are.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I mean, we all it doesn't take anybody that can watch any YouTube video or the news knows that what's going on is wrong.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: It's wrong.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's outright un-American.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: Outright.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you have federal troops on our what are the equivalent of federal troops?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: These ICE agents are troops.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: They look like troops, they dress like troops, they're out there goose stepping, they're out there harassing our community.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it's frankly, it's an affront to the constitution, it's an affront to the framers of our constitution that this is what's happening in our in our uh in our country today.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, this is a country of immigrants.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: The strength of our country comes from its diversity, from the contributions of that individual who comes from Mexico, who comes from Colombia, who comes from El Salvador, who comes from Russia, who comes from anywhere, and is willing to sacrifice and work for the betterment of their family, the betterment of their community, and as a consequence, the betterment of our country.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh couldn't agree more.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so um you look at uh the people that are being detained and they're all brown deported, um you know, uh an overwhelming majority have either no criminal past or very minor, like a traffic or you know, a DUI 12 years ago, maybe.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, these people, even if they're so-called, you know, undocumented, some of them are uh, as you know, are paying taxes, you know, all right and are contributing mightily to the economy.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen studies that, you know, in the billions of dollars in terms of a net economic uh benefit.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, you know, if they're not criminal threats, which they're not, as you know, we have things in place in federal law.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: If you're a bad guy and you get deported and you're found in this country again, like they'll hammer you.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like we'll grab you and stick you in federal prison for 10-15 years and you'll go back again.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: I did those cases that well, I didn't do them, thankfully.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: I refused.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: 1326, we call them.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: Deported alien found in the United States um with felony um record.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: So if it's not for public safety and it's harming the economy, and it's disrupting, you know, like pretty much all of our, you know, happiness and peace, you know, why do you think they're doing it?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um Project 2025.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think that uh there's a a fear amongst the formerly predominant culture in our country, that they're they got this uh fear of replacement.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: And frankly, I mean it's the fear is completely misplaced.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_03: I mean you have you have generations of Latinos here.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_03: People that have been here for generations.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you look at the contributions that our community has done for this country, it's it's um reprehensible that this is the way that we're being treated, and I really do.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: think like you know it comes from Project 2025 um this belief that somehow this increase in Latin you know Latinos because we're the the ones that are you know tend to be the we're right at the border there's a there's a fear um that somehow Latinos will take over the culture will take over just the country or I it's it's I mean I I think it's just again I mean just blanket it's fear it's fear it's the fear of change the fear of the fear that you might have a brown face helping you instead of a white face and some people don't like that and it's unfortunate because this country is is it's not meant to be that way in my opinion.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think this fear is mainly coming from the propaganda or is it something cultural that was very congruent with the I think what it does it takes advantage of somebody who's insecure and then the propaganda steps in and provides a a justification for their for their thoughts and you know their opinions I think that's what it is it's like you know think about when you were young and you had you know you were insecure you're you're thinking about what what am I gonna do in this world you know is is it's gonna be tough out there you know I don't have a plan and and people like me you and John took that and made our decisions to make something of ourselves right we didn't blame anybody else we didn't we we took the bull by the horns took advantage of what we had and we're here today right and what happens is is that you get some people out there that maybe they don't have that I mean primarily like people from the quote unquote dominant culture in this country I think when they find themselves in that situation they kind of feel oh it's unfair or instead of of realizing you know I gotta take advantage of the opportunity it's you know I gotta do what I gotta do I got to I've got to make a plan or and granted these things are hard in this country right now I mean the economy is not good and um but I think what happens is they blame them they blame others for their station in life and that's what it is I mean you you you see it all the time they they don't uh a lot of people don't like seeing brown faces in high places you know well it's not even in high places like very well publicized case here uh a man uh who you know was here for 25 30 years selling uh ice cream on the street out of his little cart you know had the success of uh sending two of his girls to Stanford you know uh was beloved in his community you know people love this guy very gentle nice man you know and he got he got grabbed right and and ordered removed you know um and you know you say you know a lot of times it's these white people acting out of fear it's odd though like in California and probably most places I feel like even the majority of the predominant race does not support these actions you know like if you see you'll see them like the the first big thing that happened here uh we had a raid of a restaurant in South Park which if you guys don't live here is kind of like this little I don't know what you would call them like kind of hippie trendy very yeah trendy nice restaurants yeah bars yeah they're kind of bee nikky guys you know and the but they're white you know almost probably 85% 90% and and they were super pissed off like and you see that like on the videos and stuff like you oh yeah you the they get so mad that these are regular old you know yeah white people right no so like I I don't even know if it's I think it's just an insidious hateful evil group that's driving this to remain themselves in power at oh for sure I mean it's it's you know back back to what you're saying about the contributions of immigrants I mean we we have the ITIN number which is the uh your little tax number yeah yeah that the illegal I mean they all have I think they say that they all have I think they think uh uh illegal immigrants quote unquote they uh contribute over a billion dollars to our tax base for sure and it's like you really want to get rid of that I know and they're both day man they just give it's a one-way street man yeah it is a one way street they're not gonna get any Social Security they're not gonna get any they're just paying no tax return nothing no refund nothing and I mean you got I mean these are people out there picking crops that have their ITIN numbers and are just making sure that they're paying their taxes and doing everything that they're supposed to do.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: Because they want to follow the law they want to follow the law they want to follow the law they want to do they want a uh a better a better life for their family um you're like a big rule rule of law guy um and so like we're here at our law firm which is on Front Street right across the street we have the federal complex including where they have immigration court and so you know as you know lately they've been grabbing people that attend their hearings they're complying with the law they're following what they're supposed to find follow they're grabbing people that are checking in with uh their appointments with um with ice like basically people that are trying to do everything the right way quote unquote the right way yeah no and it's it well I mean something you saw that big ICE budget oh yeah and they want to justify their spending of their money hopefully when the midterms come around that'll all start you know being defunded or you know the Congress won't allow for that funding but I think they got I think ICE was funded more than like more than everything.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah more than everything.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: I mean I think they're they're yeah their budget was bigger than the Marine Corps I believe that was what they were saying.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know they're arbitraison right when you go on LinkedIn when you go on Facebook it's like we want you and up like a$50,000 boat as well have you seen some of the the propaganda that ICE has for recruitment I mean there was one that I just found appalling that just looked like it was straight from Nazi Germany.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: It was a skeleton lifting weights and saying my body sweats or toils for you know to get immigrants out of the country something like that.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: But it was just a really nasty nasty little uh drawing and it very reminiscent of Hitler you know the use of the skeletons and things of that nature.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: I did those I get those LinkedIn ads and uh I I report them as yeah yeah hate speech and I say it's like extremist or yeah organization.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: But they are they take your attention like that because you're scrolling right it's all like success and people in business and suddenly you see this.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah what's going on they were I was just watching something this morning before I got here and they were talking about the massive recruiting efforts for ICE and how that they're just accepting anything with a heartbeat.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like they've got pe they've got they've got people obviously with you know racist tendencies, racist tattoos.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_03: I was uh listening to I forgot who it was I was listening to I think uh I was one of I don't know if it was Rebel HQ or something like that but they were talking about um one guy was like in the middle of and I mean they're hiring people with criminal records or have pending cases.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: One guy had to get up from class because he had to go attend court uh on a gun charge.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then there was another there was somebody that wound up reporting something that said some guy wasn't there that's 469 pounds.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: 469?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: 469 pounds and he gets took and and his doctor recommended no physical activity and he's actually I said put him out there because little homie can run yeah you know run the yeah exactly exactly they get all the smokers and the and they get all the smokers out there man everybody that yeah Maddie the one thing that gives me joy though is is watching um the videos and uh whoever they're targeting gets away like and that happens a lot because trained yeah did you see that one in Chicago where they had him right there at the corner and then the everybody starts coming up and I'm like yes he got away and and that dude was like no kind of athlete Mexican power baby that's what it was speaking to lack of training like these two like super like bad you know fundamental tactical guys couldn't even like contain what this guy yeah I know exactly and exposed and you're right everybody's let him go let him go then they finally get right got always a lot about the actual training that they're getting right yeah but in education and the training the the the type of you know the type of uh the new recruits you know they are what they are I mean back in the day when I was a federal prosecutor I worked a lot with Border Patrol like and you know a lot of those dudes were like Mexican themselves you know like and they would cruise around out here in um Imperial Valley and leading out to Jacumba.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of a cool job you know if you grab them at the entry point like you know uh they would a lot of what they would do you know some of these migrants would be malnourished or um in bad shape you know and but like now it's a different kind of cat that's doing this man like doing these interior patrols and just harassing people and um and I feel like I wonder like because if if they're brown doing that work they get a lot of hate like a lot of people like hey you know you're betraying your race you're betraying your family I wonder like how some gets a betrayal of your country.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah even like the oath yeah I wonder well so like what do you think I I know it's a lot to bite off but like what does first of all let me ask you this question.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think right now like if I if I drive over to who knows where somewhere was a lot of Mexican people say Nashville City I don't know okay like uh Shelltown or something and I I talked to 30 people do you think they know what La Rosa Lores is do they know the existence of the group you think no but I I mean no but I want to change that.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah right that's what I want to do I want to change that I want to get our our organization more visible in the community um we just had our retreat thank you very much for allowing us to have it here um organizing our whole year and um hopefully we can start getting some you know I want to start publicizing that we're here to help the community I want to encourage our membership to to help in any way they can um go ahead and you know I'm from La Raza lawyers you know this is what you know we believe this is what I'm fighting for this is what this is wrong you know whatever it is I just want our organization to be more visible in the community definitely because I mean it's it's great that we're it's it's good that we're visible in the legal community that that's that's great.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean we're highly visible in the legal community but I think we need to start being more visible in the actual community.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah there's a lot of supports of law students being I received being up the scholarship myself you know that was definitely a big support then also talking to the community I don't think they're aware of Sandia without wrestling lawyers which I think if that changes it's just gonna make a great impact to the community.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: Right we uh you know we're organized the San Diego La Raza Lawyers is a C6 and we have a C three which is the public benefit fund and the public benefit fund has you know I I want to lean on the incoming president of the public benefit fund who was the former president because once you're the president of La Raza the next year you're the president of the public benefit fund with Marco Garcia who was my predecessor and we've already had you know conversations small conversations about you know getting the public benefit fund to you know start really more engagement in the community get our membership involved with the community um you know kind of work hand in hand which is what what the organization the companion organizations so that's definitely something we want to do whether it's um you know assisting the boots on the ground with uh actual membership or even you know whatever financial uh assistance we could provide through the public benefit fund through our through our organization um that's definitely what I want to do it's definitely a priority on my agenda I mean along with our great events I mean we have our amistalis we have our golf tournament we have our judiciary reception um but I think we do need to become more visible in the community yeah I think I feel like at least in theory it could be a challenge you know because um I think about corollaries and other groups like here we have something called Earlby Gillam you know but we you also have the NAACP we have you know La Rasa but there's also like Maldef and California Rural Legal Assistance you know but obviously um I feel like maybe especially with our group the time has come really for Latino you know lawyers of influence that are in la La Raza you know to like you said just step up be more visible be more vocal.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I think membership as a whole would very much value that I believe you know because don't you think everybody's so I think yeah I think yeah just just a little bit but yeah everybody's just a little bit pissed off yeah no I think uh I think that uh we have that uh clarion call that people will will rally around it I think that I think that's that'll definitely do it.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I think you could get like you could get like free radio spots I bet.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: You'd probably get free little free like unused billboard space.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_03: I bet you could get on uh Univision and um you know Telemundo or whatever I think even the English stations I think it would it wouldn't be that hard it would take some thought you know yeah just thought some effort yeah yeah I mean just a little bit of a little bit of taking of uh not taking not taking no for an answer being like hey just let me talk to so and so and yeah like the groups they want to support that you know like the the business groups the media groups you know they want to like that's an easy yes for them I think well they do right I mean a lot of their employees are local are cross border are from this region right so they would ult ultimately benefit from that uh but one of the things that I appreciate about La Raza is how its membership is very evolved and then when you guys call volunteers people volunteer oh definitely which is a a a great calling for them right yeah so no definitely and I again I want to harness that energy and focus it towards a community to make our name uh like you were saying John we go to national city and we get 20 people do they know who San Diego La Raza lawyers is no probably not but maybe under my uh tenure I can start changing that maybe the next person after me can keep it going because because it's gonna keep growing in terms of number and influence you know I think I'm hopeful that times in the future especially here in California will be better like right now it's well John you you grew up here too right and you remember how this town was this was a white Republican oh for sure a white Republican heavy military town Pete Pete Pete Wilson was the mayor of this place.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: But like it's there's been a lot of change since then definitely like now it's like this was like considered like the the little conservative last conservative coastal city in California and it's not bad.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_02: But it's no longer no longer no longer graphics have changed politics have changed like it's kind of our town we kind of we're on the verge of things it yeah it is yeah we're on the verge of running things and so it's weird to have these the this extraterritorial invasion almost you know like nobody wants them here.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_03: Right no and it's and you know what it's something that you can I think that's that sentiment is very American to not want federal troops in your street.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_03: I mean that's federalism.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah it's federalism I mean you don't you know I'm I'm a you know I always tell people uh yes I I I'm an American but I I'm a Californian that's this is my state I was born and raised in the golden state take a word from too short right born and raised in the golden state right I'm so great I was born and raised in the golden state yeah but um that being said I mean you know this is my state and uh I feel that my state has the ability to control itself and police its own maintain its own order we don't need you here dude no we don't need Marines in the streets of Los Angeles we don't need the National Guard activated and we sure as hell don't need ICE agents who are a paramilitary group patrolling our streets harassing our workers harassing our families harassing a sailor the other day on his way to the base in full uniform.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah they grabbed him um I don't know yeah I don't know where he was going maybe 32nd Street or something and the whole the the thing you got to realize too is the whole premise of this administration's election based on that immigration policy has been a lie.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_03: It has been an outright lie they had said we're only gonna focus on the rapists and the murders well you know first of all if there's rapists and murders here they already went to prison and more likely than not they got deported right after they thousand right after they right after they served their term.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_03: Now did some of them made it back in here?
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_03: Some of them have I mean I've had 13 yeah I've had 13 but they get rolled up on a 1326.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: Now you're going back to prison.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_03: They get rolled up on a 1326 and if you're if you're uh right now what they're doing at the U.S.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_03: Attorney's office is if somebody gets caught first time and they don't have a record they're giving them a 1325 misdemeanor.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: So well I don't know man it would be hard for me to I worked at that office it'd be very hard for me to I couldn't work under this administration zero chance.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I yeah I mean that's I think there's a lot of people at that office that are there that probably aren't happy.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_03: I imagine they're not the the morale terms of but maybe they're you know I think like who would stay there like maybe you're thinking man this can't last long like and there's got to be I was when I was a prosecutor I always thought yeah you can always have um people that believe in due process you know on the def on the defense side but it's as important uh to have people with conscience on the government side and so if all the good people leave the government now you know then I think we're seeing that right now with the the uh number of law students that are do not want to work for the Department of Justice.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean you your background you work big law right and that was like part of the thing you you worked big law you did you went to the U.S.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: attorney's office you you put you ground your teeth in some you you cut your teeth in in some trials and stuff you know working working as a U.S.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_03: attorney and people don't want to do that now.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: I mean you see the jokes of U.S.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: attorneys we've you know Pam uh Pam Bondi or Attorney General and then you had uh what's her name halligan the one that one in Virginia and then the one in New Jersey yeah yeah I mean they I mean that like Halligan the entire uh indictment of Letitia James and James Comey terrible I mean it it's embarrassing for the Department of Justice to have those cases dismissed to be sure I saw um I saw recently there was some memorandum that was supposedly issued by the department that said that they would take into account your public views on the administration if you had like posted negatively or said negative things about the administration in terms of leniency or lack of leniency on your clients.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: In other words they were censoring the speech of defense lawyers and said like if you talk shit about us then we're gonna hammer your your damn okay that's that was like man like it just keeps getting more and more outrageous.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah it's well what it is is it's it's the be it's the beginnings or we're already in a full blown authoritarian attempt to take over our entire lives.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean our our government um the Yeah I mean it is what it is, right?
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean we put the the rule of law I mean we have a president that doesn't uh uh
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: adhere to court orders and um basically gas off the law and um just you know we're being ruled by tweet right and um by tweet or by truths now right by truth social or whatever it is but it's it's you know when you you kinda have those it comes from the top down these types of tactics or you don't you you're gonna talk crap about me then I'm gonna do you know that's just total bullying right complete bullying and then you you know it it's it's classic for this administration it's going to be what what I see with what's happening with this administration is that they are definite there's gonna be a lot of work to do to repair uh our reputation domestically and internationally um as a result of what this this uh administration has been doing well um you know in terms of the work to be done when does when's what's the term of your presidency and how many how many members do you have right now La Rosa?
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: We're about 400 strong my um presidency officially started November 1st so that's November to November yeah from November to November and um is there a is there a way like say you start getting this activism kind of going or this more community involvement is there a right now with the membership dues is there a way to contribute I guess there is right because you can contribute to the scholarship fund you can contribute to the scholarship fund you can contribute to the public benefit fund benefit yeah the bar stipend right now the bar stipend that we award from the scholarship fund the scholarship fund is is really taken off yeah something like that that's yeah yeah you had uh your former uh former partner here Jessica Luhan she used to work she's was a president of the scholarship fund she's great leadership in that role her dad painted this oh really yeah very cool this is a very very cool mural dude yeah he's very cool talented guy yeah and so uh that right there is a a priest that influenced Jessica when she was young in a paso okay and then uh I think that's me and then behind you we have uh Cesar and MLK and uh Abraham Abraham who is that Benito Benito Juarez got them all man yeah flags from every Latin American country indigenous people La Virgen de Guadalupe yeah yeah oh yeah that's kind of over there is the more Aslan kind of stuff yeah yeah so oh you were were you gonna ask like what is La Rasa?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah so a lot of people don't don't even know what la raza means la raza when you Google it probably says the race yeah it has nothing to do with the race when you tell us what la raza actually means so what la raza means is the culture the people that's what it means and when you say la raza you know like anytime you're with uh you're with you know a group of group of Mexicans or whatever or somebody comes up you go it's it's raza dude you know like hey he's a cool dude you know it's it's it's it's uh it's uh obviously like he said the definition is the race yeah but what it means is the people the gente the uh the people that uh you see uh you know you you know you share something with them and I think that's where that's what la raza in terms of going from literally meaning the race to meaning the culture that's what uh brings us together and again not growing up here in a in uh San Diego but you know you know that saying hey buena raza dude exactly yeah and I realized that it was more common in the US to use La Rasa to basically add your community right so that's why I appreciate the term even though I never used to be born right yeah but uh yeah you you used it before like as buena raza right when you describe somebody right I would not use it that often well because it's more it's mostly here in California and the US so again it's something unique to California which is good because it basically brings the Latino people together together yeah no it means the culture the people because he's he he was growing up in Mexican and everybody was everybody was raza exactly yeah there you go yeah that's one of the distinguished right right yeah not a lot of uh diversity uh yeah Mexicans all from Tijuana or cities in Mexico the buena raza yeah no I mean it's a it's a like I said you know literally like you said it means the race but it has more meaning than that to our community so it's the Latino the Latin the Latino American community here.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then with other with other like raza organizations I know you guys have like a a recent uh new affiliate with the uh what is that the National National Hispanic Barcelona so I know that technically we've been with HNBA since like the beginning or whatever but I think in the last under my predecessor we started to end with uh I think it's uh Esteban yeah the Esteban yeah Esteban yeah um the pre Kyle I can't believe I'm forgetting his last name right now I want to say Esteban Hernandez but that's the judge um but um and look that like the purpose of that goes to a national organization would that be to expand the La Raza efforts in California or would that be for the local judges?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_03: I think well I mean that the Hispanic National Bar Associations definitely got a lot more pool and clout on the East Coast and in the Midwest.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_03: Whereas out here, you know we have our separate bar organizations we have uh the Cruz Reynoso Bar Association of Northern California we have uh just different different uh Latino you know we have uh Maba Mexican American Bar Association LA which is big uh you have the you know Orange County uh Latino lawyers you know they've got everybody's got their different associations and I think we we all do kind of fall under the umbrella of the HNBA so in terms of I think in terms of being able to make some of our efforts national more nationally known I think the HNBA would be a good vehicle for it that's what I think and so um as we kind of close up um I know people can find you at tomayolaw.com uh do you have are you on social media?
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm on social media but I'm not I definitely gotta up my game on my social media all right so not not super active no um personally yeah but business wise not well it's okay personal people want to get to know you like personally are you on like Instagram yeah I'm on Instagram what's your Instagram handle uh you want me to oh look it up man yeah I'll look you up on we talk a lot about this and I feel like sometimes on the business sides of Instagram it works but I think the personal side of Instagram works even better the C's gonna find it before me coach tomayo esquire coach tomayo esquire coach coach tomo esq because I used to coach football that's the other thing I I didn't I didn't mention that I that was one that was I used to coach football at Bonita Vista High School oh cool yeah I coached offensive line there uh for uh JV freshman and varsity my last year oh very cool yeah yeah I remember uh I went to Hilltop High School my first two years well back then actually you were still in uh junior high school in ninth grade and ninth grade yeah yeah so I went there I went to Hilltop my tenth grade year and so of course Benito was in our league back then uh but we thought those were I like I thought those kids were so rich man like he said right yeah well now like I mean back then it's all really it was definitely had that stigma being the rich hit school in fact I it yeah yeah that definitely had that stigma but it's mainly Latinos now oh sure everywhere everywhere in South is mainly Latino people yeah and it was a better scroll football between those two pretty even yeah pretty even but Mita had some success in 2015 and I think when they just recently had some success but and something like um I'll just be brief but you know I used to I started I loved football I got to play when I was in high school I didn't play when I was a kid and you know became a it was something I definitely loved and had a passion for.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I started off by coaching youth football for a friend's son.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_03: I did that for a couple years and then I got picked up by somebody that I coached with there that started coaching at the high school and that's what I always wanted to do.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_03: I liked coaching JV and freshmen more so than varsity.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah they were like more reachable kids that's cool that's cool you did that that's ultimate giving back yeah back when I was in that league uh sweetwater was the they were the king yeah they had the Samoans man that's what it was that yeah they had Samoans and they would have they would have like within that league like there weren't a ton of like super high end you know skill athletes and they they had the Samoans and they had the black kids like they they have both yeah but let's let's when they had a couple guys go to the NFL right and then yeah yeah they were good yeah and then and then who was it Donnie Edwards played at Chula Vista he played at yeah chula vista he was chula high school guy was spartan yeah spartan and that guy's like a like many many time all pro yeah well we digress okay okay there you go so I think you and I we had a conversation about football the last yeah one of our one of our uh yeah I like football yeah you know so okay we have your Instagram we have your website you do uh mainly uh criminal defense work you do some civil rights work you'll take personal injury cases I do definitely ponder upon sound advice from somebody yeah yeah so um so you're out there you're gonna be doing this amazing job at the as the president of La Rasa making la rasa maybe more giving it more street cred maybe definitely you know um is a funny way to say it but probably accurate that that's a very accurate way to put it like give more street rasa yeah more rasa more street cred yeah we have yeah you know and and I think like um you know maybe you know we talked about Hispanic National Bar Association I mean maybe historically a little more corporate a little more defense minded La Raza is a little more even the name is almost Chicano sounding you know like a little more maybe activist bent you know which is a good thing.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah no for sure.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_02: Alright man so uh if you had to uh write this is the last question okay if you had to write something in the sky you know for all the world to see and to read you know and to be motivated by what would you what would you write up there?
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_02: What would be your words of wisdom or encouragement or inspiration live to fight live to fight there you go that's why he's the president of La Rasa Lawyers and um uh former Marine and a guardian of our constitutional rights and due process for all of us and so thank you sir for being on the podcast thank you very much for having me yeah we're here for you whatever you need uh with the group or yourself personally I look forward to getting to know you more in the year to come um thank you dubby as always for an amazing job uh that'll wrap this episode of the La Tino if if you like what you hear subscribe like us share us and uh we look forward to uh continued great conversations in the future thank you very much thank you for listening to the Latino podcast we'll see you again next time and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes