Harris led charge to help man become nation’s first undocumented lawyer: report

Vice President Kamala Harris played a pivotal role in the effort to make an undocumented Mexican immigrant the first sworn attorney in U.S. history.

Harris, then California’s attorney general, supported the cause of Sergio Covarrubias Garcia, who fought a legal battle in 2012 to regain his law license, the Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday.

Garcia, whose parents permanently moved from Mexico to Northern California when he was 17, had fought for years to realize his dream of becoming a lawyer. Eventually, his case ended up in the California Supreme Court.

According to the report, Garcia worked in almond fields, at a grocery store, earned two degrees from a community college and a paralegal certificate from California State University, Chico. He later went on to study law and passed 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 fight received widespread media attention and caught the attention of the Obama administration, which publicly opposed his case. The Obama Justice Department argued that a 1996 law “was clearly intended to prevent illegal aliens from obtaining commercial and professional licenses issued by states and the federal government.”

Although Harris is currently part of President Biden’s administration, she publicly opposed President Obama’s administration, where President Biden was vice president at the time. She even wrote a letter supporting Garcia’s lawsuit and assigned an attorney from her office to argue on his behalf before the state Supreme Court.

The state attorney general, civil rights groups and Hispanic lawmakers in the state all supported Garcia, the report said. Harris’ endorsement, however, “made all the difference,” Kevin Johnson, dean of the UC Davis law school, told the Sacramento Bee.

“When the highest law enforcement official in a state gives his opinion 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 taken cover and tried to avoid political controversy. But she sided with the State Bar of California and Sergio Garcia, so I respect her.”

In an amicus curiae brief Harris filed in support of Garcia, the then-attorney general took a position opposite to that of the Obama administration, arguing that allowing an undocumented immigrant to practice law was consistent 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 portraits of Obama at the White House on September 7, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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“It is not a crime to be present or 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 forthcoming about his immigration status with federal officials and has been approved for a visa when one became available.”

The state Supreme Court ultimately sided unanimously with Harris, making Garcia the nation’s first undocumented attorney. A law also passed in 2014 allowing immigrants without legal status to apply for professional licenses.

The attention on Garcia’s case comes as Harris is in the spotlight as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Her immigration policies have drawn particular attention after Biden tasked her in 2021 with tackling the “root causes” of illegal migration.

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 more than a decade ago.

“She had absolutely nothing to gain by supporting me and a lot to lose,” Garcia said.

Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked early 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 has now expressed some disappointment with the Biden administration’s handling of immigration and outreach to the Latino community. Garcia, who said he will still support her candidacy for president, hopes Harris will now push for immigration reform and “shine for the immigrant community” by helping the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States.

“I hope that if she becomes president, she can show the rest of the country and especially the rest of the Latino community who she showed me,” Garcia said.

Harris’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.