A man who illegally traveled to the US two decades ago said he hopes a court ruling granting him a law license will open doors to millions of other immigrants in the same situation.
The California Supreme Court granted a license on Thursday to Sergio Garcia, 36, in a unanimous decision.
Garcia, who attended law school and passed the state bar exam while working in a grocery store and on farms, can begin practicing law immediately.
Photo: Reuters
Garcia said he hoped the decision would serve as a “beacon of hope” to others in the same situation. He plans to be a personal injury attorney in his hometown of Chico.
It is the latest in a string of legal and legislative victories for people who are in the country without permission. Other successes include the creation of a path to citizenship for many young people and the granting of driver’s licenses in some states.
“This is a bright new day in California history and bodes well for the future,” the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles said in a statement.
The court sided with state officials in the case, which pitted them against the White House over a 1996 federal law that bars people who are in the US illegally from receiving professional licenses from government agencies or with the use of public money, unless state lawmakers vote otherwise.
Bill Hing, a law professor at the University of San Francisco, said the court made clear the only reason it granted Garcia’s request is that California recently approved a law that specifically authorizes the state to give law licenses to immigrants who are in the country illegally.
The new law took effect on Wednesday.
It was unclear how many people would qualify to practice law under the ruling and whether it would influence other states.
“[Garcia] can hang up a shingle and be his own company,” said Hing, who represented the state bar association in the case. “Once he does that, a client can retain him as a lawyer.”
However, some questions remained unresolved, such as whether Garcia could appear in federal court or in other states. Federal law makes it illegal for law firms to hire him.
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who wrote the opinion, said the new state law removed any barrier to Garcia’s quest for a license and no other federal statute “purports to preclude a state from granting a license to practice law to an undocumented immigrant.”
Garcia, 36, arrived in the US as a teenager to pick almonds with his father, who was a permanent legal resident. His father filed a petition in 1994 seeking an immigration visa for his son. It was accepted in 1995, but because of the backlog of visa applications from people from Mexico, Garcia has never received a visa number.
He applied for citizenship in 1994 and is still working toward that goal.
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