After realizing that being a nurse and dealing with needles wasn’t all that appealing to her, Celeste Ernau looked inward and discovered a passion for immigration law. 

“Most of my family are immigrants. So that was definitely a catalyst for me. During 2020 I saw the Hispanic immigrant community suffer mistreatment, and I wanted to contribute to [fighting] that and be a change,” Ernau said. 

Growing up as a practicing Catholic who is studying law, Ernau has experienced conflicts between what she believes in and what she is studying. According to Ernau, she always went to Church with her grandma, but eventually stopped attending due to conflicting schedules and law contradicting her religion.

“Sometimes it does contradict the traditional Catholic faith, but I do put my faith above everything else, because I know that there is a right and wrong way to go about things, and I like to look at that from a religious view,” Ernau said.

Her boyfriend, Joshua Thomas, confirms how committed to Catholicism she really is.

“She comes from a Catholic family. She goes to Church. She prays and does her Bible study. I believe 100 percent that she’s a strong Catholic,” Thomas said.

Now going to Pepperdine University with an almost full ride scholarship, only paying $10,000 a year, she explains how coming from a single mother motivated her to figure out a way to attend college despite the cost. 

“I got my scholarship by dedicating myself to school, joining clubs, just doing the best that I could. I also work part time, so I’ve been saving up money to pay for certain things. My mom being a single mother with three kids and having given up a lot from moving from Peru to America and having to learn a whole new language really motivated me to continue chasing my goals,” Ernau said.

Coming from an immigrant background herself, Ernau explained the issue on how lawyers take advantage of immigrant families.

“Immigration lawyers take advantage of the people who they are trying to help, because a lot of them don’t speak English and don’t know the rules of this country,” Ernau said.”And so when they go to those immigration lawyers, even though the lawyer might know that their case has no hope, they will still funnel them for money and say that if they pay for this thing they’ll be able to get some sort of legal status.”

Being the person she is, she shared how she wants to join immigration law so she can be the change.

“I knew that I didn’t want to be like [those corrupt lawyers]. There is a need for an immigration lawyer in this country who could actually help people instead of just wanting money.. I want to work for immigrants and families who need help,” Ernau said.

Thomas shared how strong and committed she is to her future career as an immigration lawyer.

“Something that really stood out to me was how while she enjoys politics a lot, and I don’t really. But she’s very good at explaining concepts to me, which is not easy to do. I think it’s very honorable for her to always try to educate others,” Thomas said.

Despite how much schooling goes into becoming a lawyer, Thomas feels that Ernau will be successful.

“There’s a lot of content that needs to be covered over four years. After that, you have to go to law school and then you take more exams in order to become a lawyer. Knowing [Ernau] as someone that is very dedicated and knows what she wants, I think while this would seem like a tough path for others, it’ll be easy for someone like her,” Thomas said. 

Ernau’s desire to help immigrant families is so strong that she doesn’t really care if she ends up on the lower end of the lawyer pay scale. Her number one goal is to help families that need it. Being a part of the Hispanic community has definitely strengthened that passion.

“As a Latina, you grow up surrounded by a ton of people in your community who are immigrants,” Ernau said. “A lot of my friends have parents who are immigrants, and it’s hard seeing how hard these people have to work in their everyday lives. I feel strongly that no kid should have to grow up in fear of [their parent’s being deported].”