Blanca Estela Zarazua

Blanca Zarazúa’s father, Aquilino, came to the United States in 1945 when he began working as a Bracero or guest worker in Chualar, California. Ms. Zarazua maintains her own law practice in Monterey County, California and has been in practice since 1987 when she began working as Associate Tax Counsel with Bank of America in San Francisco, California; she was a Certified Tax Specialist for 20 years. Prior to joining Bank of America, Ms. Zarazúa worked as a law clerk with the California Supreme Court in San Francisco. While still a student, Ms. Zarazúa worked for the Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and Goodrich, Little, Riquelme & Asociados, a Mexico City law firm. Ms. Zarazúa is now representing individuals and families with respect to immigration law matters. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and has served on the board of the Latin America District Chapter which serves Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. Recently, Ms. Zarazúa secured the release of a DACA recipient who had been inappropriately detained by ICE. She also served as co-counsel in a class action lawsuit and represented victims who sued the City of King for civil rights violations after several police officers misappropriated the victims’ vehicles. In October of 2018 the ACLU, Monterey County Chapter presented Ms. Zarazúa with The Ralph B. Atkinson Civil Liberties Award for her work in representing and defending immigrants. In April 0f 2019, Ms. Zarazúa received a prestigious Doctor Honoris Causa from the Claustro Doctoral Iberoamericano. Since July of 2019, Ms. Zarazúa has begun her tenure as board trustee of The Mexican Museum in San Francisco, California and currently serves as Secretary to the Board of Trustees. In 2003 Ms. Zarazúa was honored with a lifetime appointment by Mexico’s former President Vicente Fox to serve as Honorary Consul of Mexico for Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.