Rochelle Garza is committed to welcoming refugees and immigrants and ensuring immigrants are treated with dignity and respect. Garza is a fronteriza and lifelong fighter for the border communities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Her father was raised on a farm by an immigrant mother and a father whose family had worked the land for multiple generations. Her father became a teacher, a lawyer and then served South Texas as an elected State District Judge for 21 years. Together, they taught Rochelle to have faith, work hard, and that every person is deserving of dignity and respect.

Garza became a lawyer for the people — fighting for children, immigrants, and families as a civil rights lawyer. She fought to keep families together during Donald Trump’s devastating “zero tolerance” immigration policies of family separation and denying access to asylum. She knows what it’s like to represent the interests of everyday Texans as they interact with our legal system — from representing parents seeking child support to defending people’s due process rights.

Garza has also fought for reproductive rights for immigrant teens in detention, including the Garza v. Hargan case in which Garza was the guardian for Jane Doe, a pregnant 17-year-old denied the right to choose. A month-long legal battle ensued when Donald Trump staged an unprecedented intervention to try to stop Jane from making the decision that was hers alone to make. Garza took on Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who tried to meddle in the case. She  won — giving Jane and many others like her the opportunity to exercise their lawful rights and the chance at a better life. The decision has had a lasting impact. Teens in immigration custody are now given the “Garza Notice,” informing them of their right to access abortion free of obstruction and retaliation.