Carlos Spector

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Mr. Charles “Carlos” Spector. Carlos was 71 and died from complications of cancer on March 1, 2026 at his home with family by his side. He was born on March 13, 1954 in El Paso Texas to Dolores and Irwin Spector, both deceased.

Carlos graduated from Bel Air High School, Class of 1972. He then served in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War. He came back to El Paso, Texas his home, and continued his education graduating from the University of Texas at El Paso and continuing to Texas Southern University to pursue his law degree. While in Houston, Carlos began his life of advocacy for justice continuing it in El Paso, Texas when he returned in the early 80’s. In Houston he met the love of his life, Sandra Garza and they married and have a daughter whom he loved very much, Alejandra Spector.

Carlos was an immigration lawyer and social justice activist who pioneered Mexican asylum cases. He saved countless lives by representing families, journalists and activists fleeing persecution in Mexico.

A pragmatist and artist at heart, Carlos practiced law like a jazz musician often improvising to find ways to keep families together and protected in the U.S. even as the law sought to cast them out. But Carlos didn’t just win asylum cases, along with his wife Sandra, a former union organizer, they housed and fed people and helped organize them politically to advocate for a stop to the state-sanctioned violence in Mexico, what he called “authorized crime.”

Carlos always liked to say, “Politics is the art of the moment.” Both he and Sandra were deeply involved in the immigrant rights movement in the 80s and 90s. They became interested in not just winning asylum cases but in seeking justice and accountability for Mexicans swept up in the violence.

In 2010, they along with their daughter Alejandra Spector, formed Mexicanos en Exilio to help asylum seekers organize politically but also to heal spiritually through the efforts of Alejandra in seeking mental health services and in helping them form community in the U.S. This led to Alejandra’s continued education and ultimate psychotherapist profession.

He was also a mentor to many immigration and human rights lawyers, teaching a Mexican political asylum course as a guest lecturer at UTEP and was cited in numerous doctoral dissertations. Throughout the years, he participated in several civil and immigration rights groups such as LULAC and the Texas Latino-Jewish Alliance. He was awarded UTEP’s Gold Nugget award as a distinguished alumnus, and he received the Texas Observer’s Tyrant’s Foe award for his asylum and human rights work. And in late February he was honored by the Mexican Senate for his untiring defense of human rights and asylum seekers.

Never wanting to retire, he continued worrying about his clients and fighting for immigrants and social justice even on his death bed. He spent his final days surrounded by family and friends receiving the love and friendship that he had given throughout his lifetime. His sincerest wish was that others take up the mantle of protecting human rights and asylum access.

In addition to his parents, Carlos is predeceased by his brother Richard “Richie” Spector. Surviving in addition to his wife, Sandra, daughter, Alejandra, and stepdaughter Monica Solis Hoefl (Robert), granddaughter Bella, and his brother Abraham Spector (Elvira) Spector, sons Benjamin, Yasha, and Gudi and his brother Samuel Schmidt. He leaves behind many cousins in both the Spector and Calderon family.

A service of remembrance will be held on March 8, 2026 from 4-8 at Hillcrest Funeral Home, 1060 N. Carolina Dr., El Paso, TX . Internment will be at Ft. Bliss Cemetery on March 9, 2026 at 2:00 p.m.