Vice President Kamala Harris was vital in a push to help an undocumented Mexican immigrant become the first licensed attorney in U.S. history.
Harris, then-California’s attorney general, came out in support of the case of Sergio Covarrubias Garcia, who in 2012 was fighting a legal battle to earn his license as an attorney, according to a report from the Sacramento Bee on Wednesday.
Garcia, whose parents permanently moved from Mexico to Northern California when he was 17, had been in a yearslong struggle to achieve his dream of becoming an attorney, with his case eventually making it all the way to the California Supreme Court.
According to the report, Garcia worked in almond fields, at a grocery store, received two degrees at a community college and a paralegal certificate from California State University, Chico. He would later go on to complete law school and pass the bar exam on his first try in 2009. However, the California Supreme Court initially blocked him from obtaining his license.
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Vice President Kamala Harris. (Reuters/Hannah Beier)
The battle was highly publicized, attracting the attention of the Obama administration, who publicly opposed his case, with the Obama Justice Department arguing that a 1996 law was “plainly designed to preclude undocumented aliens from receiving commercial and professional licenses issued by states and the federal government.”
While Harris serves today in the President Biden administration, she publicly bucked President Obama’s administration, where President Biden was then serving as vice president, going so far as to write a brief backing Garcia’s legal case and provided him an attorney from her office to argue on his behalf in front of the state’s Supreme Court.
The state bar, civil rights groups and Latino lawmakers in the state all came out in support of Garcia, the report notes, though Harris’ endorsement “made the difference,” Kevin Johnson, the dean of UC Davis’ law school, told the Sacramento Bee.
“When the highest law enforcement officer of a state weighs in and says this is legal, this is permissible, this is possible, the Supreme Court of the State of California listens,” said Johnson, who also represented the State Bar of California in support of Garcia’s case. “She could have ducked and covered and tried to avoid any political controversy. But she sided with the State Bar of California and Sergio Garcia, so, I respect her for that.”
In an amicus brief filed by Harris in support of Garcia, the then-attorney general staked out an opposite position to the Obama administration, arguing that the undocumented migrant receiving a license to practice law was in line with state and federal policies that “encourage immigrants, both documented and undocumented, to contribute to society.”
Former President Obama, left, and President Biden arrive at a ceremony to unveil the official Obama White House portraits at the White House on Sept. 7, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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“It is not a crime either to be present or to work in the United States without immigration status, and Garcia has never been charged with the crime of unlawful entry,” Harris’ office wrote in the brief. “In fact, Garcia has been forthright about his immigration status with federal officials and has been approved for a visa when one becomes available.”
The state’s Supreme Court ultimately sided with Harris unanimously, making Garcia the nation’s first undocumented attorney and inspiring a 2014 state law that allowed immigrants without legal status to apply for professional licenses.
The highlighting of Garcia’s case comes as Harris has entered the spotlight as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, with her record on immigration attracting particular attention after she was handed the task of solving the “root causes” of illegal migration by Biden in 2021.
Garcia, who now practices law in Chico, California, told the Sacramento Bee that Harris took a big risk by taking his side in the case over a decade ago.
“There was absolutely nothing she could gain from supporting me and a lot to lose,” Garcia said.
Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked early on in the Biden administration with addressing the root causes of mass migration from Central and South America. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/Pool)
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However, he now expresses some disappointment in how the Biden administration has handled immigration and outreach in the Latino community. Garcia, who said he will still support her bid for president, hopes Harris will now push for immigration reform and to “shine for the immigrant community” by helping the 11 million undocumented immigrants who currently live in the United States.
“I hope if she gets to become president that she gets to show to the rest of the country, and especially the rest of the Latino community, the person that she showed me,” Garcia said.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
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