Justice Department Bars Illegal Immigrant from Practicing Law
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.
