Coming from a background as a lawyer and a judge he was appointed to be a judge in the second Audiencia after the first Audiencia's failure. As an "oídor" he took a strong interest in restoring order to the Michoacán area which had been ravaged by rebellions and unrest. He employed a strategy of congregating indigenous populations into congregated Hospital-towns called "Republicas de Indios", organized after principles derived from Thomas More's "Utopia". The purpose of this policy was to teach the Indians a trade and to instruct them in Christian values and lifestyles. He established multiple such hospitals: Santa Fé de México close to the town of Tacubaya in the Valley of Mexico, and Santa Fé de la Laguna close to Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, and Santa Fe Del Rio close to La Piedad, Michoacan.