Idaho's first Latino district court judge recounts his journey

I would like to say that my background as an immigrant has had a lot in terms of directing my life pursuits, including a career in the law, serving as an advocate, as an attorney, and then later as a judge. And I was so moved by the fact that in Idaho, when I came here in 1975, farmworkers had very little protections. And my background, family background, is that of farmworker. At the same time, I understood back then and still do how farmwork is so important to our society. In essence, they say, you know, they bring food to our table. My place in the community was one very similar to what we had in 1975, which was immigrants, U.S. citizens, who were all unskilled but doing farm labor work. It was the American dream, which I think we all had some sense of trying to achieve. And for me, Idaho, and my family, for me, it was the place where opportunity came along.