S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman. On today's show , a conversation with immigration attorney Maria Chavez , who was recently honored by the city of San Diego as a woman of distinction. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Last week , the City of San Diego recognized ten women as part of its Women of Distinction event. Maria Chavez is this year's citywide honoree. She's the immigration legal director at the partnership for the Advancement of New Americans , or Pena. And Maria joins me now to talk about this recognition and her own journey through immigration law. Maria , welcome to the show.
S2: Thank you so much for having me.
S1: And congratulations. Tell me about how you and how and when you found out about this honor and what made you feel.
S2: Thank you. Yeah. I , um , I was driving into work one day. Like 2 or 3 weeks ago , and I just glanced down at my email , and I saw that I had an email from , um , one of the mayor's staffers , and it said that I had been selected for this award. And I was like , wait a minute. This has to be spam. This has to be some kind of phishing thing. And so I kind of ignored it a little bit. And then when I got to the office , I read it and I was like , oh my , this is real. Like , this is legit. I was I was floored , um , to have the mayor recognize , you know , the work that I do that is really just a labor of love for me was really , really just I can't even put it into words. I was so deeply humbled and so , so grateful.
S1: So for those who might not be familiar with Pana , tell us about the organization and the work that you lead there. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So Pana is a it started primarily as a organizing hub , organizing and research hub focusing on refugees and other immigrants within the San Diego area. Um , and so uh , in their work , they realized that what people needed , the communities that we serve , what they really needed was direct representation in immigration cases. Um , and so they started a program where it was primarily just referring folks out. Um , but then they decided to bring the work in-house. And so that's when they brought me on.
S1:
S2: Um , but aside from , you know , all of the fear and the and the horrible rhetoric that's going on. Um , it empowers me. It gives me strength and motivation to continue to fight for communities and for people who , you know , they come to the United States just because they want to be safe. They want to live a life where they can support themselves and raise their children safely and not have to worry about being harmed or persecuted. And , um , you know , any little bit role that I can play in that makes me feel good.
S1: Just before we went on air , you were telling me about a client of yours in Arizona that you visited over the weekend. Can you tell me more about that ? Yeah.
S2: So my client , this client in particular , is a Somali asylum seeker. He entered the United States through the border in 2024 and was detained and has been detained ever since. He was transferred from the Otay Mesa Detention Center here in San Diego to Eloy Immigration Detention Center , which is about an hour or so southeast of Phoenix. And I needed some papers to get signed. And , um , the best thing for me was just to go visit him. But , um , he was thankful , you know , just because I went. And I was actually the first visitor that he has had in Arizona since he got transferred. His wife lives in Minnesota. And , you know , the rest of the community members that he knows are here in San Diego. So even though I went out there for work , it really was a good morale booster for him.
S1: I've been hearing a lot about detainees being transferred from one center to another. Sometimes it seems arbitrarily.
S2: Not just now. Um , and it makes representation difficult because , you know , if they're at Ty , I can just hop in my car in 20 , 30 minutes , I can see my client. Um , but when they're out of state or even further , I either have to , you know , plan an actual trip or coordinate with the detention center to schedule a visit. And it just the logistics become really difficult , really challenging. Um , and , you know , in this case , I'm lucky that he was only transferred to Arizona. I've had clients get transferred to Colorado and Texas and Mississippi , and it just it just makes it really , really difficult.
S1:
S2: And , um , he kind of it was I was a I was also a paralegal , and he was like , you're at a dead end job , Maria. What are you going to do ? Um , and he was like , you know , you said you wanted to be a lawyer. So what are you waiting for ? And I he was right. I was kind of dragging my feet. And so , um , his pushes really got me into going into law. But it was always something that I was interested in.
S1:
S2: Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So what drew you to that area of practice ? Yeah.
S2: So my ex-husband's military and so we moved around a lot. And that would have meant that I had to take the bar exam in every state that we moved to. I didn't want to do that. And especially not the California bar , which is the hardest bar in the country. Um , and so I needed to make my career and my practice something that was flexible , that I could that was easily transferable. And so that would mean federal law , which would either be bankruptcy , tax or immigration. Immigration seemed like a no brainer. I'm the daughter of immigrants. I grew up in the Washington , DC area , so immigrants rights was always something that was at the forefront. I speak fluent Spanish. It just made sense.
S1: So you said you're from Maryland , the D.C. area.
S2: Ever since I was a kid , I've always had that sense of justice , of what's right and what's wrong and standing up for , you know , other people. Um , you know , I have little anecdotes of , you know , me arguing with a teacher because a classmate wanted to go to the bathroom and the teacher wouldn't let her or , you know , writing a petition for the lunch line and giving it to the vice principal. And , uh , it's just something just being there. Just. It's what was instilled in me just as early as I can remember.
S1: And so the center of D.C. is of a lot of national protests and organization.
S2: All the time. I went to protests , I went to marches , I went to parades. And so I grew up in a culture that was like , you love your country , right ? I remember when , um , our veterans came home from the Gulf War. They did this big , massive parade. And I remember going and being so happy and so proud. Um , but then on the flip side of that , right , you also see the injustices living right there , and you see all of the politics and the mudslinging and everything. So you grow up both loving the country and appreciating what you have , but also recognizing that there are a lot of injustices and a lot of things that need to be fixed.
S1: You present on a lot of immigration topics. You volunteer with immigrants rights groups.
S2: Um , unfortunately , the way our immigration systems work , uh , the vast majority of people that we meet are not eligible for any kind of immigration benefit. Believe me , if they were , they would have applied a long time ago. Just the laws just simply Um , don't work out for them. And so I think it's important that when I'm giving this information , giving this advice , I can say , okay , these are what the rules are , or , you know , this is your scenario , but it doesn't apply here. And here is why. And explaining exactly the why and what the law is so that they don't get taken advantage of later on. But then on the flip side of that as well is when , um , you know , we see on the news , you know , people's rights being violated , I can say this is what the law says. These are your rights. That doesn't mean that they're going to abide by that. However , here are ways that you can protect yourself so that we can have a fighting chance later on.
S1: This Women of Distinction event was part of San Diego's commemoration of Women's History Month.
S2: Um , my mother is my rock. She is the epitome of strength and has been through so , so much in her life. A two time cancer survivor , a widow who is just living her best life now. Um , and before her , her mother , my grandmother , uh , back in El Salvador , where I was from is was a , um , a proponent of children's rights and children's education. She was a retired high school principal , and I didn't know this , but I take a lot after her , as far as you know , my , my my thoughts on justice and and and how to protect folks. And so everything that I do is basically based on that lifestyle of having strong women and , you know , knowing that that women , we run the world , right ? That's what Beyonce says. And so , um , you know , I'm so grateful and so thankful that I was recognized that the mayor , you know , gave me this honor. And , um , you know , he said , you know , women aren't just a chapter in the city. We are the ones who wrote it. And I couldn't agree anymore.
S1:
S2: Um. Do it because you love it. Because it's your passion. Because you want to help people. Um , because really , that's the only reason why , uh , there's not money in immigration law , unfortunately. Um , but you do it because you want to help people and you care about justice. And I think that's the most important part.
S1:
S2: Um , I'm going to continue to advocate with , you know , my electeds because being a lawyer like it advocacy doesn't stop in the courtroom. It doesn't stop in my office. You know , we're there to analyze the law and apply it to our clients. But how do you make the law ? By going to your electeds. And so that , to me , is probably one of the biggest things that I'm going to continue to do is advertise , is Advocating for just laws that that help our communities.
S1:
S2: Um , but what I would continue to advocate for is a just and humane immigration system , one that is updated to reflect our current realities. Um , the US immigration system hasn't had a massive overhaul in decades , and the world now is very , very different than what it was a long time ago. Um , and so , you know , if you want to get at , you know , stopping , you know , border crossings and , you know , having millions of undocumented individuals in the country , you have to get at the root cause of that , and you have to fix it , fix the system , and update it in a way that allows that prevents that from happening in the first place.
S1:
S2: Um , there's the the allegory of the starfish. I don't know if you've ever heard of that , but that's something that I live by , which is like the little girl who's walking along the beach with her grandfather , and he chucks a starfish into the ocean , and she's like , but there's so many. And he's like. But to that one starfish. I made a difference. And that's really my motivating light.
S1: Well , I've been speaking with Maria Chavez. She is the immigration legal director at the partnership for the Advancement of New Americans and San Diego's Woman of Distinction in 2026. Maria. Thank you so much for joining us. And once again , congratulations.
S2: Thank you so much.
S3: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
