{"id":5058751,"date":"2023-03-09T15:09:11","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T15:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/malatinonews.com\/?p=5058751"},"modified":"2023-03-09T15:09:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T15:09:11","slug":"lawyers-for-civil-rights-boston-leader-receives-new-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/2023\/03\/09\/lawyers-for-civil-rights-boston-leader-receives-new-honors\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyers For Civil Rights Boston Leader Receives New Honors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MA Latino News covers the social determinants of health<\/a> and democracy<\/a>. Collaborations like the partnership with Boston University\u2019s Department of Journalism in the College of Communication is integral to the health of news and the health of democracy. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some people grow up with aspirations of becoming a celebrity, an athlete, or even a world-renowned singer. For 43-year-old Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, choosing a career had nothing to do with dreams and everything to do with a question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do you protect yourself and how do you assert your rights, especially in a context where you don\u2019t know your rights?\u201d Espinoza-Madrigal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer lies in Espinoza-Madrigal\u2019s career as a  public interest and civil rights lawyer. As the executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston, he has been at the center of many of the legal cases that have come through Boston, including filing a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for transporting a myriad of people, most of them Venezuelan seeking asylum, to Martha\u2019s Vineyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s also been at the forefront of his East Boston neighborhood efforts to locate a Latin-American woman who has been missing since last November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Espinoza-Madrigal was recently named <\/strong>a 2022 \u201cLawyers of the Year\u201d by Massachusetts Lawyer Weekly for his legal advocacy work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization noted that within hours after the news broke about the two airplanes carrying migrants from Texas to Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Espinoza-Madrigal was on the island with a team of lawyers \u201cto ascertain the details of their situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is extremely humbling to be able to receive the lawyer of the year recognition and the award reflects the importance of the work that my organization championed,\u201d Espinoza-Madrigal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in Costa Rica and raised in Chelsea, Mass., <\/a>Espinoza-Madrigal grew up in a low-income family with a mother who cleaned houses for a living to raise her sons. Growing up, Espinoza-Madrigal said he witnessed \u201cthe injustice\u201d in how his family was treated, dealing with immigration authorities, the police, and landlords demanding rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001, Espinoza-Madrigal went to New York University School of Law to pursue a career in public interest law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the first in his family to go to college, attend graduate school, and become a lawyer, Espinoza-Madrigal said he wanted to highlight the importance of \u201ccreating space\u201d for immigrants, Latinos, and minority groups in the legal profession. That includes ensuring not only hiring and promoting Latinos in the legal profession but also amplifying their voices on critical issues, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt is an extremely segregated profession and it doesn’t reflect the populations we serve. You start seeing a stark difference between what we look like as a community and what we look like as a legal profession.\u201d<\/p>\nEspinoza-Madrigal<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This process should begin in law school, he said, noting his own experience with having peers and mentors from similar backgrounds\u2014which helped him get through law school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After law school, he worked as a public service attorney and became executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston in April 2015. He has become a voice for people, who would not otherwise have a lawyer to advocate for them in a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Espinoza-Madrigal first learned about the Venezuelan migrants being dropped off on Martha\u2019s Vineyard, he said he felt \u201cextreme worry\u201d and \u201cconcern\u201d for the well-being of the families and children who were left without any protection or resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace Moreno, chief executive and executive director of the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, recalled receiving a call from Espinoza-Madrigal that morning. He asked her to \u201cjump in\u201d because other people were not \u201cacting as fast.\u201d Although she does not specialize in immigration issues, she quickly responded to Espinoza-Madrigal\u2019s call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a Latina in the Latino community,\u2019\u2019 Moreno said. \u201cHe reached out to me \u2026 on a personal level and I, of course, jumped in because this was a humanitarian effort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she got to the scene, Espinoza-Madrigal was in the \u201cfront-line\u201d, helping escort the migrants on the ferry to the military base, Moreno recalled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe made sure people understood they were safe,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While his award champions the work of his organization\u2019s efforts on behalf of the Venezuelan migrants, Espinoza-Madrigal said it is one example of the \u201cday-to-day struggles\u201d the Latino community has faced recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He recalled going to another scene in East Boston, where Reina Morales Rojas had been missing for five months. The Everett-based advocacy group, Latinos Unidos en Massachusetts, had called Espinoza-Madrigal and Lawyers for Civil Rights to help ascertain what was going on with the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The police would not let the lawyers into the meeting.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Rojas had disappeared for a while, news of her vanishing did not become public until Jan. 25. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Espinoza-Madrigal said the cases of Rojas and the Venezuelans show how Latinos are often \u201cneglected\u201d and \u201cexploited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThese two challenges coexist…Living under the constant fear of exploitation while trying to survive through institutional and structural neglect.\u201d<\/p>\nEspinoza-Madrigal<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That is why he does this work, said Moreno, who praised the recent honor from Lawyers Weekly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said she admires how Espinoza-Madrigal is not scared to be bold and uses the law for the good of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe’s one of the few lawyers on the left that can actually be just as creative with the law,\u201d Moreno said. \u201cHe protects the humanitarian and the little guy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

This story was published in collaboration with Boston University\u2019s Department of Journalism in the College of Communication. The student journalist is a member of a Reporting in Depth class taught by former Boston Globe reporter Meghan Irons. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Annika Chaves<\/em><\/strong> is 20 years old from Pittsburgh, PA. She is a sophomore at Boston University, studying Journalism and Anthropology with aspirations of working in the legal field as an attorney. As a first generation immigrant from Colombia, she is passionate about finding ways to connect with and amplify the Latine voices in local communities.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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