Sergio Garcia, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, who put himself through law school and passed the bar exam, has been prohibited from receiving a license to practice law by the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to U.S. immigration lawyers, Federal Law prohibits giving a public benefit, such as a bar license, to an “unlawfully present alien.”
The federal law was “plainly designed to preclude undocumented aliens from receiving commercial and professional licenses issued by states and the federal government,” a lawyer fro the Justice Department wrote in a brief.
Only the federal government and a former state bar prosecutor have opposed Garcia’s licensing.
Garcia came to the U.S. when he was 17 months old, returned to Mexico with his family when he was 9 and reentered the country with his family when he was 17. His father, who the state bar said is now a U.S. citizen, applied for a green card for his son 18 years ago. The application is still pending.
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