The trial also made national news after Ortega cross-examined Border Patrol sector chief Gregory Bovino about previous comments he had made describing undocumented immigrants as \u201cscum, filth and trash.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lot of fun to confront him,\u201d Ortega said quietly but proudly. \u201cEspecially since I\u2019m Latino and it wasn\u2019t lost on me that this person was head of the Border Patrol and that a lawyer who\u2019s named Cuauht\u00e9moc is cross-examining him.\u201d<\/p>\n
His track record has earned the respect of friends and foes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been on opposite sides more often than not, but I would never question his motives or ethics \u2014 ever,\u201d said Essayli\u2019s predecessor, E. Martin Estrada<\/a>. \u201cCuauht\u00e9moc is collegial, he\u2019s humble and he\u2019s kind. Frankly, because it\u2019s not the norm, it makes him stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n Ortega interned under him after graduating from Columbia Law School and the two regularly visited law schools while Estrada was in his position to urge students of color to work in the federal justice system.<\/p>\n Anthony Solis sits with Ortega on a panel that approves private attorneys to stand in for the public defender\u2019s office when it has a conflict of interest. The Calabasas-based lawyer remembered being initially \u201csurprised\u201d when he ran into Ortega in Washington, D.C., while both were representing clients accused of crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then I thought about it,\u201d Solis continued. \u201cMost good public defenders aren\u2019t just administrators telling people what to do. They\u2019re in the trenches with their people. That\u2019s leadership. That\u2019s Cuauht\u00e9moc.\u201d<\/p>\n I recently met Ortega at his 10th-floor corner office in Little Tokyo, which has stunning views of downtown L.A. He\u2019s 43, immaculately dressed and groomed and has the countenance of a high school counselor. His mostly sparse office is decorated with mementos from previous successful trials, such as a wooden cross and a copy of Iceberg Slim\u2019s \u201cPimp: The Story of My Life.\u201d Awards and certificates of recognition spoke to a distinguished career, including one signed by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg<\/a> \u2014 \u201cShe got the accent right on my name.\u201d <\/p>\n He pointed to a Pollock-esque painting in front of his desk created by a death row inmate represented by his predecessor. <\/p>\n \u201cI kept it up there because it reminds you how resilient someone can be even if they\u2019re facing execution. They can still take the time to make something artistic,\u201d he said. \u201cThat carried meaning for me because I like to think of my clients as people beyond the charges. That helps me stick with them and stand up with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuauht\u00e9moc Ortega, right, at a federal courthouse in 2023 with a client, former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar, who pleaded guilty to a bribery and money laundering scheme.<\/p>\n (Irfan Khan\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The son of immigrants from the Mexican state of Zacatecas who originally came to this country without papers, Ortega grew up a \u201csheltered, nerdy kid\u201d in La Puente. He attended UCLA with the intentions of becoming an opinion columnist and served as editor in chief of the Daily Bruin when I was one of its columnists, although we never had a chance to talk back then. That gig allowed him to intern in 2003 for the New York Times\u2019 opinion section, which he called a \u201chighlight of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n That summer, the paper weathered a plagiarism scandal involving reporter Jayson Blair<\/a> that led to the resignation of executive editor Howell Raines. <\/p>\n \u201cSome people there told me, \u2018This paper is, like, going to fall apart,\u2019\u201d \u201c Ortega remembered, and they urged him to consider another career. The New York Times most definitely did not fall apart in the years that followed, no matter how many times Donald Trump subsequently proclaimed it \u201cfailing.\u201d<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Ortega was already thinking about law school after noticing that former classmates of his from Nogales High were \u201cgoing into the system \u2026 and I thought one wrong turn and I could\u2019ve been there myself.\u201d<\/p>\n After finishing at Columbia, he clerked for a federal judge based in Orange County that Ortega described as \u201ctough. So I was always mesmerized with the public defenders coming in and pushing back on her. I thought, \u2018This is dangerous \u2014 what are you doing?\u2019 And that\u2019s when it really started to click. Like, I think it would be cool to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s been in the federal public defender\u2019s office for Southern California since 2010 save a few months in private practice. The first two years were \u201cterrifying\u201d but the advice a juror gave him after a losing trial \u2014 be more \u201cnatural and approachable\u201d instead of rehearsed \u2014 made Ortega realize that he needed to relate better to his clients, mostly Latino and working class, instead of \u201ctrying to mimic other people\u2019s style.\u201d<\/p>\n Ortega soon became a supervisor but said becoming the top guy \u201cwas not really an ambition until shortly before it happened.\u201d He\u2019s proud of having shepherded his office through COVID-19 and also high-profile cases like that of disgraced former L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar<\/a>, whom Ortega wouldn\u2019t comment on other than to say he was \u201creally proud of the work we did in that case.\u201d (Huizar pleaded guilty to racketeering and tax evasion and was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison, seven years less than the maximum sentence.)<\/p>\n I asked how Ortega was feeling right now. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile Estrada was in office, we basically had none of those [immigration] cases,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s an opportunity for us to really gear up again and remember that we know how to defend these cases.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s had to deal with a hiring freeze for about a year, but he\u2019s more concerned that court-approved private attorneys such as Solis, whom his office depends on, haven\u2019t been paid since early July because Congress hadn\u2019t funded them \u2014 and this was before the current government shutdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m afraid those lawyers are going to stop taking cases,\u201d Ortega said. \u201cWithout lawyers in court representing defendants, the case cannot go forward. \u2026 It\u2019s pretty unprecedented and it\u2019s really terrible for those lawyers and worse for their clients. And so that\u2019s why I\u2019m trying to figure out how to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n Is that why his receptionist was selling cookies downstairs?<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s for our client fund,\u201d Ortega said with a chuckle. \u201cOur staff keeps petty cash in case one of our clients needs an Uber or a hotel night or bus fare to get back home. The court doesn\u2019t provide that.\u201d<\/p>\n The staff shortage was one of the reasons Ortega personally defended the case that found his client innocent of assaulting a Border Patrol agent. He especially reveled in cross-examining Bovino<\/a>, finding it amusing that while the other Border Patrol agents who testified wore suits and ties, the sector chief sported his uniform, which Ortega joked made him look like \u201cthe abstract concept of la migra had personified into flesh and blood.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli answers questions at a news conference in Los Angeles on June 4, 2025.<\/p>\n (Damian Dovarganes\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n