The amicus brief filed by the DOJ mentions, “The enforcement of the federal provisions governing employment by aliens is a responsibility of the federal government, and is not the proper subject of state-court proceedings, particularly in the context of state licensing.” The 17-page brief also observes, “Instead, the only question before the Court is whether Mr. Garcia meets the criteria for admission to the bar under state and federal law … Because he is not an eligible alien … and
The State Bar of California supports Garcia’s bid to practice law, and the state Attorney General wrote an amicus brief to the state’s highest court urging that Garcia be admitted to the bar, describing him as “a model of the self-reliant and self- sufficient immigrant.”
In an opposition brief to Garcia’s petition to be admitted to the bar (whose admission exam he passed), Larry DeSha, a retired prosecutor for the state bar of California said, “Mr. Garcia is not qualified to practice law because he continually violates federal law by his presence in the United States.”
Despite the DOJ’s veiled warning that the state bar and the state supreme court should not interfere in the matter of issuing a state license but leave it to federal authorities, the California Supreme Court did not give any indication of its opinion, or how long it might take to resolve the case.
It is pertinent to note, just as a matter of interest, that U.S. federal law allows aliens resident in other countries to open a bank account in U.S., obtain status to file tax in U.S. on income earned from U.S., and also allows aliens resident in other countries to obtain the status of an “employer in U.S.” and hire U.S. workers from offshore. It is also pertinent to note that had Garcia been a foreign lawyer meeting the requirements of California bar, he would have been allowed to practice law in California. So, the problem is knotty, to say the very least, and has become a test case for other young and undocumented professionals.
