DIRECTOR
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya, III, was born in Brownsville, Texas and raised in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Baylor University, a Juris Doctor degree from the Baylor University School of Law, and a Diploma in U.S.-Mexico Comparative Law from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara.
Prior to being appointed to the federal bench in 2014, Judge Torteya was the managing member of the Torteya Law Firm, P.L.L.C., with correspondent offices in Mexico. He previously served as Special Counsel to the Mexican Consulate in Brownsville, Municipal Court Judge for the City of Brownsville, and Adjunct Professor of International Business Law at the former University of Texas at Brownsville. Judge Torteya is a member of the State Bar of Texas, National Federal Trial Judges Division of the American Bar Association, Federal Magistrate Judges Association (National Co-Chair, Diversity Committee; Member, International Law Committee), Federal Bar Association (Member, Board of Directors), Cameron County Bar Association (Member, Board of Directors), and a former member of the U.S.-Mexico Bar Association.
Judge Torteya is frequently invited to speak to federal judges and prosecutors from Latin and South America at conferences held in Mexico, Puerto Rico and El Salvador regarding extraditions and the adversarial system in the U.S, by the Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT).