PROFILE OF JESSE J. BAÑUELOS
Jesse J. Bañuelos is very proud to have been born in an adobe hut in Las Moras, a ranch in Zacatecas, Mexico, where he also lived in his childhood. Las Moras is located between Tlaltenango and Tepechitlán, small towns which are about half a day’s walk from Las Moras.
IN MEXICO, HIS FATHER TAUGHT HIM TO WORK BY TAKING HIM TO THE FIELD TO TOIL ON THE LAND WHEN MR. BAÑUELOS WAS 5 YEARS OLD
When he was 5 years old, his father started taking him to the field every day, at the break of dawn, in the planting season to help him plant corn. In the harvesting season, they would also toil in the field from sunup to sundown. That’s how Mr. Bañuelos learned to work.
IN MEXICO, A Gold-Hearted, Young Woman Taught Him READING, WRITING, MATHEMATICS, AND INSTILLED IN HIM A GREAT LOVE FOR BOOKS AND FOR LEARNING
No one went to school in Las Moras because there was no school. One day, Fernanda Dominguez, the most educated person in Las Moras, offered to teach reading and writing in her house to any child whose parents wanted their children to learn. Some parents didn’t want to take their children to Fernanda because when they grew up those parents expected their children to be farmhands or housewives. Therefore, their children wouldn’t need to read or write, those parents said. Although Mr. Bañuelos didn’t want to go to Fernanda’s house because most of his friends were not going to go, his mother insisted. Because Fernanda had gift for teaching, in only six months and with only a few hours of study per week, she taught him reading, writing, mathematics and instilled in him a great love for books and for learning
ALTHOUGH HE DIDN’T WANT TO COME TO THIS COUNTRY BECAUSE HE FEARED HE WOULD NEVER LEARN ENGLISH, HIS PARENTS DIDN’T LEAVE HIM IN MEXICO BECAUSE HIS FUTURE WAS WAITING FOR HIM IN THIS COUNTRY
In time, his father brought the family to Tijuana where Mr. Bañuelos attended a school for the first time in his life. Two years later, his father brought the family to El Monte, Ca. He didn’t want to come to this country because in the schools they speak a strange language he feared he would never learn. He wanted to stay in Tijuana two more years to finish his classes at Escuela Primaria 16 de Septiembre, where he was excelling in his studies. However, his parents didn’t leave him in Mexico because his future was waiting for him in this country.
IN POTRERO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, A WISE AND NOBLE TEACHER TAUGHT HIM TO OVERCOME HIS FEARS AND TO FIGHT AGAINST THE IMPOSSIBLE
When he had been in this country for two years and was about to graduate the 8th Grade, Mr. Bennett, his favorite Teacher at Potrero Elementary School, in El Monte, Ca., asked Mr. Bañuelos to give the graduation speech in English and in Spanish. He didn’t want to give them in any language because his English was still very poor and because he had a fear of speaking in public. So he knew that if he gave the speeches, he would make a fool of himself. Besides, his parents didn’t have the money to buy the suit or the shoes that he needed for the speeches. However, one week before graduation, the Teacher, with his own money, bought him a suit and a pair of shoes.
On graduation night, after the speeches, his friends congratulated him for his speech in Spanish. When he asked them about his speech in English, they said that they didn’t understand much of it because of his nerves; his accent; and because he stuttered. “What about the applause?”, he asked. “They applauded because you had the guts to get up on that stage knowing that you were going to make a fool of yourself,” they said. In tears, he approached the Teacher to apologize. The Teacher said: “Well done!” Confused, Mr. Bañuelos uttered: “I don’t get it, I failed you.” The Teacher smiled and said: “you’re going to go far one day and what you learned tonight will help you get there”
WHEN MR. BAÑUELOS WAS STRUGGLING IN HIS LAW STUDIES WHAT HE LEARNED FROM HIS PARENTS AND FROM THE TEACHER AT POTRERO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HELPED HIM TO OVERCOME IMPOSSIBLE OBSTACLES
In 1982, after graduating from the university, he began to study law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, something he never even dared to dream that he would ever do in Mexico, much less in this country. However, as soon as he started his classes, he felt like a fish out of water because many of his classmates were coming from money and from some of the best universities in the country, while he was from very humble origins. To add to his grief, after reviewing his first assignments, his writing professor warned him that if he didn’t improve his writing he would have to look for another career because he had not shown her that he could learn to write like an attorney. Since he was struggling in other classes, she also warned him that if he didn’t raise his grades in those classes, he would be expelled from Loyola. He didn’t fold because the Teacher at Potrero Elementary taught him to fight against the impossible but knew that to graduate he would have to work, as his parents taught him, harder than ever. In time, his writing improved so much that in his second year he was chosen as one of the thirty best writers at Loyola, out of hundreds of candidates [The certificate that he earned for his writing can be seen by clicking here] He also graduated and was issued a license as an attorney in Dec. of 1985. [The license can be seen by clicking here]
MR. JESSE J. BAÑUELOS’ EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business Administration from the California State University in Los Angeles;
- Received a law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 1985;
- Licensed to practice law by the State of California in 1985;
- Admitted to practice law in the Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals;
- Admitted to practice law in the Federal Court of the Central District of California;
- Admitted to practice law in all the Federal Immigration Courts;
- Admitted to practice law before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA);
- Admitted to practice law before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) for immigration cases;
- Principal Litigation Associate with Gutierrez & Gutierrez from 1985-1995; and
- Opened his own law offices in 1995, with emphasis on accident cases, such as auto accidents, truck/trailer accidents, pedestrian accidents, etc., and on immigration matters, including defense against deportation/removal, petitions for family-based green cards; for American citizenship; for waivers [forgiveness] of certain crimes, or for waivers of violations of the immigration laws, such as immigration fraud, unlawful presence in the U.S. after April 1, 1997, etc.