Vice President Kamala Harris played a key role in helping undocumented Mexican immigrants obtain the first attorney’s license in U.S. history.
The Sacramento Bee reported on Wednesday that Harris, who was California’s attorney general at the time, supported the lawsuit of Sergio Covarrubias Garcia, who was fighting in court to gain admission to the bar in 2012.
Garcia, whose parents moved permanently from Mexico to Northern California when he was 17, struggled for years to pursue his dream of becoming a lawyer, eventually taking his case all the way to the California Supreme Court.
Garcia reportedly worked in almond fields and a grocery store, earned two degrees from community college and a paralegal license from California State University, Chico, then graduated from law school and passed the bar on his first try in 2009. But the California Supreme Court initially blocked his license.
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Vice President Kamala Harris. (Reuters/Hannah Beyer)
The highly publicized battle caught the attention of the Obama administration, which publicly opposed his lawsuit, with the Obama Justice Department arguing that the 1996 law was “clearly enacted to prevent illegal aliens from obtaining state and federal business and professional licenses.”
Harris, who now serves in President Biden’s administration, openly opposed the administration of President Obama, when Biden served as vice president, writing briefs in support of Garcia’s lawsuit and sending lawyers from her own firm to argue on Garcia’s behalf before the state Supreme Court.
The report noted that the State Bar Association, civil rights groups and the state’s Latino lawmakers all supported Garcia, but Harris’ endorsement “made the difference,” Kevin Johnson, dean of the University of California, Davis School of Law, told the Sacramento Bee.
“When the state’s top law enforcement official says this is legal, this is allowed, this is possible, the California Supreme Court listens,” said Johnson, who also represented the California State Bar in supporting Garcia’s lawsuit. “She could have ducked and sunk and tried to avoid the political controversy, but she stood with the California State Bar and with Sergio Garcia, and that’s why I respect her.”
In an amicus brief supporting Garcia, Harris disagreed with the Obama administration, arguing that allowing undocumented immigrants to practice law is consistent with state and federal policies “to encourage immigrants, both legal and undocumented, to contribute to our communities.”
Former President Obama (left) and President Biden arrive for the unveiling of President Obama’s official White House portrait at the White House on September 7, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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“Residing or working in the United States without immigration status is not a crime, and Mr. Garcia has never been charged with illegal entry,” Harris’ office said in the brief. “In fact, Mr. Garcia has been forthright with federal authorities about his immigration status, and his visa was approved when it became available.”
The state’s Supreme Court ultimately unanimously ruled in Harris’s favor, making Garcia the nation’s first lawyer for undocumented immigrants, and in 2014 a state law was enacted allowing immigrants without legal status to apply for admission to the bar.
Garcia’s case comes as Harris is in the spotlight as a potential Democratic presidential candidate, with her record on immigration especially scrutinized since Biden tasked her with addressing the “root causes” of illegal immigration in 2021.
Garcia, now an attorney in Chico, California, told the Sacramento Bee that Harris took a big risk by siding with him in the case more than a decade ago.
“She had absolutely nothing to gain from endorsing me and much to lose,” Garcia said.
Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked with addressing the root causes of mass migration from Latin America from the start of the Biden administration. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohat/Pool)
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“I’m not a Republican, but I’m a Democrat. …
“I hope that if she becomes president, she will model the type of person she has modeled for the rest of the country, particularly the Hispanic community,” Garcia said.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
