Maria Cortes Gonzalez,Aaron Montes|El Paso Times
The El Paso community has lost a champion of social justice in the passing ofEl Paso attorney Enrique Moreno, friends and community leaders say.
Moreno,a civil rights lawyer and once nominee for the 5thU.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, died Thursday morning.
State Sen. José Rodríguez said in a statement that Moreno stood for individual rights and civic progress.
"A generous and kind man, Enrique gave selflessly of his time and considerable expertise to not only workers and the disenfranchised, but also to candidates, officeholders, and all who aspired to make El Paso a better place —he cannot be replaced," he said.
Moreno along with lawyer Lynn Coyle represented the father of Jakelin Caal Maquin, a Guatemalan migrant who died while in custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The lawyers called for the release of Jakelin's records from the El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office andProvidence Children’s Hospital to provide him with details on her Dec. 8 death.
Moreno also was remembered as a man who cared deeply about his community. He was born in Chihuahua and moved with his family to El Paso when he was a child. And he graduatedfrom Harvard University with a law degree but returned to El Paso to practice law.
"They all thought I was crazy, like I was wasting my education. But I have roots here," he said in an online article at https://www.superlawyers.com
"This area of the country, this region, our community, it was his passion. He believed in El Paso," friend and El Paso District AttorneyJaime Esparzasaid. "He was a big proponent for the little guy. He always thought that it was important they had a voice."
Moreno began his law career in 1981 as a personal injury and product liability attorney. He worked at various law firms before establishing his own law office in 1999.
He won several important cases in his career, including a landmark racial profiling case in 2006. A Texas jury awarded his client, a woman of Iranian descent, $27.5 million, against Southwest Airlines. Flight attendants had the woman arrested after she complained about poor service, according to an article in the Insurance Journal.
Federal authorities arrested the woman but she was never charged with a crime.
In the Super Lawyers article,Moreno said he was shocked when he was nominated for the 5th Circult of Appeals, being that he wasn't a friend of then President Bill Clinton.
Two Republican senators, Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison, thwarted the nomination by sending a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch claiming that Moreno was unqualified to sit on the 5th Circuit.
Moreno was not bitter, saying the good thing was he had kept his day job.
"I continued to practice law and to do what I love. It's not productive to second-guess the way these things turn out. I'm a person of faith and I believe things happen for a reason. I've tried to live without bitterness or resentment," he said.
For Esparza, the memories of jogging aroundAscarate Park three to four timesfor exercise and sitting in Moreno's office discussing current events and El Paso issues will live on.
The district attorney said his farewell to his friend on Thursday morning, hours before appearing before Judge Sam Medrano in the arraignment for the accused El Paso mass shooter.
Moreno was a healthy and strong person during his life and it was difficult to see him just before his passing, Esparza added. He had been diagnosed with cancer.
"He looked at me and says 'thank you,'and I am like no, I go no, really, it was thank you," Esparza said. "I owe him an enormous amount."
"It was a tearful goodbye this morning when he passed on," Esparza said.
Moreno was a member of the El Paso Times Advisory Board.
Visitationwill be from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 131 S. Zaragoza Road. A rosary will be said afterward.A funeral Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Mark J. Seitz at noonMonday, Oct.14 at the church.
Interment will follow at Mount Carmel Cemetery, 401 S. Zaragoza Road.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, people consider contributing to Annunciation House, 1003 E. San Antonio Ave, El Paso, Texas 79901.
More on Moreno cases: Lawsuit claims excessive force pattern by police
María Cortés González covers entertainment and trending news in the El Paso area. Shemay be reached at 915-546-6150;mgonzalez@elpasotimes.com.Support more coverage like this with a subscription.Aaron Montes can be reached at amontes@elpasotimes.com
