The Honorable Diana Saldaña serves as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas in Laredo. She was appointed to the position by President Barack Obama in February of 2011. Judge Saldaña received a unanimous vote of 94-0 during her judicial confirmation proceedings.

Born and raised in Carrizo Springs, Texas, Judge Saldaña is the third of six children raised by her mother, Blanca Hernandez-Rodriguez. For much of her childhood, Judge Saldaña was a migrant student. Every summer, she would move from Texas to Minnesota and North Dakota to work the sugar beet, soybean, and potato fields alongside her mother and siblings.

Judge Saldaña was the first person in her family to graduate from college, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Government from the University of Texas at Austin. In 1997, she received her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. During law school, Judge Saldaña served as a law clerk for Migrant Legal Services based out of Fargo, North Dakota. She was the first former migrant worker to work as a law clerk for the agency.

Upon graduating from law school, Judge Saldaña began her legal career in Laredo as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable George P. Kazen, then Chief Judge for the Southern District of Texas. After her clerkship, Judge Saldaña joined the U.S. Department of Justice as a Trial Attorney in the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C. Thereafter, Judge Saldaña joined the law firm of Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, L.L.P, in Houston. She then moved back to Laredo to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. Before her appointment as a District Judge, Judge Saldaña served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Texas, Laredo Division.

Judge Saldaña strives to use her experience and position to mentor students of all ages and build a support network for the youth of Laredo. She hosts moot courts for local grade schools, counsels first-generation high schoolers with the college application process, and accepts college students from the local university as interns in her chambers.

Judge Saldaña is married to Roberto Carlos Arredondo, an officer with the Laredo Police Department. They are the proud parents of two sons and two daughters.

3:45pm - Hearings and Trials: What Works and What Doesn’t, As Seen From the Bench