The Daily Solution: New nonprofit aimed at increasing Latinos in law
Latinos make up nearly one-third of Arizona's population, but only 5% of lawyers in the U.S. ... A local nonprofit is hoping to change that ... More changes at top of UA.
Legal representation means more than simply having a lawyer with you at trial. It can influence whether you’re found guilty of a crime and how laws and rulings are interpreted and applied.
For some people, having legal representation can be the difference between becoming a U.S. citizen or being scammed out of thousands of dollars.
Even though people living in the United States have a constitutional right to a lawyer in many situations, data shows the Latino community has been historically disadvantaged and underrepresented in the legal system.
Only 5% of all lawyers in the U.S. identify as Latino, and the number is even less for Latinas, at 2%.
They’ve also been over-represented in the prison system. Although Latinos make up 32% of Arizona’s population, they are 40% of the incarcerated population, according to the ACLU.
A new nonprofit, Aspiring Latino Lawyers, hopes to change that.
Alex Ray Sanchez, his sister Alyssa Sanchez and their cousin Anthony Sanchez launched Aspiring Latino Lawyers last July. They channeled their personal experience with the ways the legal system can harm a whole community, in addition to individual people, and the ramifications that a lack of representation has on Latinos.
“From a very young age, there were laws like SB-1070, which I think was the first time I realized that I am Latino and we are one group that is persecuted against (by) certain individuals in Arizona and across the nation,” said co-founder Alex Ray Sanchez.
Alex Ray Sanchez’s goal was to create an accessible pathway to law school with a special focus on high school and college students. The nonprofit’s mission is to “uplift and unite Latinos’ aspiring legal careers by providing access to mentorship, resources and community support.”
The organization wants to help remove barriers and encourage more Latinos to enter the legal field.
Their plan:
Provide financial assistance and cover law school application and LSAT fees.
Prepare students early on for the type of standardized testing they will encounter in law school.
Offer mentorship and other resources to provide much-needed guidance required to enter these academically rigorous programs.
“Some of the biggest barriers is that (Latinos) have never seen a lot of people with our intersectional identities in these positions of power, legal power or anything,” Alyssa Sanchez said. “One of the biggest barriers could be that there's not enough exposure to us in these areas and therefore sometimes people don't know how to interact and it could become uncomfortable.”
They’re also pushing for more law programs to be available to part-time students or at night, to make it more manageable for people who can’t afford to participate in a full-time program during traditional school hours.
All three Sanchezes were born and raised in Tucson and say they recognize the importance of programs like this, especially early in a student’s education. That’s why they’re starting in high schools.
“Let's say you join a club in high school and you see that same club in the university you go to … you already have a home,” Alex Ray Sanchez said. Students “have a community (they) can go to that (they’re) familiar with. So it's just about trying to just connect with the students.”
They piloted their program at Tucson High School when Aspiring Latino Lawyers was a group at the University of Arizona, but they hope to create relationships with other high schools that have a large population of Latino students.
They’re in talks with Flowing Wells High School administrators, which alum Anthony Sanchez says is about 90% Latino. (Susan is an FWHS alumna and can attest to this. There was even an unofficial “Little Mexico” spot where students would hang out during passing periods and lunch time!)
After they’ve expanded their reach in Tucson, the plan is to take their efforts to Phoenix, then north across the state to California. The goal is to eventually create a national network of Aspiring Latino Lawyers chapters.
They’ve already talked about their organization to some notable Tucsonans, including Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva and City of Tucson Community Enrichment Coordinator Oscar Medina.
But as is the case with most situations, finding funding can be a challenge, so the group is seeking grants and collaborations to build on their momentum.
“I feel like it's so important because there's so many different things we can tackle: the prison system that affects our community, the environment, getting proper legal defense, immigration,” Alex Ray Sanchez said.
Alex Ray Sanchez recently worked as communications director for Pima County Attorney Laura Conover’s reelection campaign, saying it helped him realize the importance of local and county elections, and the importance of having Latinos at all levels of the legal system.
Latinos, he says, have not had the best trust in lawyers. Not only do they have to contend with legal jargon which can be hard to translate and understand, they also have to deal with the complex legal system, which can be confusing even for English speakers.
“We grew up here and there's been so many things that haven't worked out in our way because the Latino and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People Of Color) community hasn't had a strong presence with being represented legally, or even being able to have circles where we get resources and support,” Alyssa Sanchez said.
And as we mentioned earlier, many undocumented Latinos have been victimized by scammers when they try to file for legal citizenship, with fake lawyers demanding payment to start the process, only to disappear once they’ve been paid.
And that’s just one challenge Latinos face in this area.
For some, the language barrier prevents understanding what you’re even on trial for, as was the case for Virgilio Aguilar Mendez, a teenage Guatemalan migrant in Florida who was deemed “too mentally incompetent” to stand trial because of his lack of understanding of the American criminal justice system. He only spoke Mam, an ancient Indigenous language.
Even getting into law school can be a challenge. An American Bar Association report found that Latino children face a segregated educational system with “insufficient resources” to meet their needs.
That’s why for the Sanchezes, building rapport with the Latino community is a top priority.
“We're hoping that if it's someone from their own community, they know them beyond, ‘Oh, they're an attorney,’” Alex Ray Sanchez said. Instead, it’s, “I know them because they went to the same high school, or they're from our neighborhood, or they volunteer all the time.’”
Susan's work with the Tucson Agenda is supported by the Local News Initiative of Southern Arizona, a fund of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.
New-ish provost: After newly hired University of Arizona Provost Joe Glover said he was leaving just weeks after he started the job, UA officials said they re-appointed Ronald Marx as interim provost, a position Marx held last school year, Arizona Public Media’s Hannah Cree reports. That move follows the announcement last week that Jon Dudas, the UA’s chief of staff, also planned to leave the UA.
Under the big lights: Tucson Mayor Regina Romero appeared on the national stage on Monday when she presented the party platform at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Arizona Daily Star’s Charles Borla reports. She greeted the audience with a hearty “Buenas Noches Demócratas” before highlighting the grassroots work that went into developing the platform.
Unpaid bills: As former President Donald Trump prepares for a border visit and rally in Sierra Vista tomorrow, the Tucson Sentinel’s Natalie Robbins points out that the Trump campaign still owes the City of Tucson $82,000 for security provided by police at a 2016 rally. City officials say they held off on suing the Trump campaign, as well as the Bernie Sanders campaign that owed $44,000, due to the high potential cost of litigation. But the city did start requiring campaigns to pay security costs up front.
Looking back: The Reid Park Zoo is nearing its 60th anniversary and Tucson historian David Leighton traced the zoo’s origin story from a prairie dog town to the 24-acre facility visited by more than 600,000 people last year, KGUN’s Pat Parris reports. A key moment along the way: “Someone gave us a monkey.”
New judge incoming: Pima County officials sent three names to Gov. Katie Hobbs to fill a vacancy on the bench at Pima County Superior Court, the Sentinel’s Paul Ingram reports. The Pima County Commission on Trial Court Appointments chose Sandra M. Bensley, Lauri J. Owen, and Kristen J. Schriner as candidates to replace Judge Javier Chon-Lopez, who retired earlier this year.
Bit by bit: The Pima County supervisors approved $1 million this week to help fund 72 units of low-income apartment housing in Tucson, the county said in a news release. The money goes to cover a gap in funding for development and construction costs for the project on 22nd Street west of Columbus Boulevard. The overall cost is about $28 million.
1.3 million: The number of practicing lawyers in the United States last year, according to the American Bar Association.
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That sounds like a terrific program and i am happy to hear about it! Kudos to Tucson Agenda and author!
Thank you, Susan Barnett, for your journalism and informative post.