Years before her catastrophic failure as the Biden administration’s border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris helped an illegal alien become the nation’s first undocumented lawyer while she was California’s top law enforcement official. In a court brief filed during the illegal alien’s years-long legal battle to obtain a law license, then California Attorney General Harris wrote that “it is not a crime either to be present or to work in the United States without immigration status.” Even the Obama administration opposed an illegal immigrant practicing law in the United States and the Department of Justice (DOJ) challenged it, arguing that a 1996 immigration reform law precludes undocumented aliens from receiving commercial and professional licenses issued by states and the federal government. Accordingly, the California Supreme Court blocked the illegal immigrant’s license to practice law and the case went on for years until Harris intervened on the migrant’s behalf.
Though it occurred over a decade ago, the story resurfaced this week as part of the mainstream media’s love fest with Harris since she replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for president. A Sacramento newspaper published a celebratory puff piece in which the illegal immigrant attorney, Sergio Covarrubias-Garcia, praises Harris for intervening to help him become a lawyer despite living in the U.S. illegally and being sentenced for reentering the country after being deported. Garcia was born in the Mexican state of Michoacán and first came to the U.S. illegally as an infant but lived in both Mexico and the U.S. until permanently moving to northern California at the age of 17. A court document obtained by Judicial Watch shows that he was convicted and sentenced after “pleading guilty to being an alien found unlawfully in the United States after previously having been removed.”
Garcia graduated from a public high school in a northern California farming town and reportedly earned scholarships to “prestigious universities,” but could not accept them “due to his status as an undocumented immigrant,” according to a biography published by a public university where he delivered an inspirational lecture. He enrolled at Butte Community College near his home and completed his undergraduate degree at the publicly-funded California State University Chico before graduating from Cal Northern School of Law, a private school in Chico. Garcia passed the California State Bar exam in 2009 but was prohibited from practicing law because he was an illegal immigrant. His case received a lot of media attention with open border groups and many of the state’s Latino legislators supporting him. The feds, on the other hand, rightfully litigated to stop the illegal alien from practicing law in the country.
Then Harris came to the rescue. She submitted a written brief to the court supporting Garcia’s case and provided a taxpayer-funded lawyer from the attorney general’s office to argue for him in front of the California Supreme Court, according to the recently published news story. Contradicting the Obama DOJ, Harris’s court brief said a license for Garcia would comply with state and federal policies that “encourage immigrants, both documented and undocumented, to contribute to society.” The legal filing continues to claim that “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. In fact, Garcia has been forthright about his immigration status with federal officials and has been approved for a visa when one becomes available.” Keep in mind, this is our border czar.
Garcia, who is 47 years old, is of course “fully backing Harris on her campaign to become the first female president of the United States” and is eternally grateful to the former California Attorney General. “To know that the ‘top cop’ in California did not hate me for being undocumented and was supporting me and wanting me to achieve my dream, that was huge,” Garcia says in the article. One of the attorneys who represented Garcia and is currently the dean of the University of California Davis Law School confirms that Harris’s endorsement “made the difference” in the case and eventually led to Garcia obtaining his law license. “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 the UC Davis Law Dean, Kevin Johnson. “She could have ducked and covered and tried to avoid any political controversy.” Harris took it a step further and even awarded the nation’s first illegal immigrant to practice law with a medal of valor.
Author: Judicial Watch
Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Through its educational endeavors, Judicial Watch advocates high standards of ethics and morality in our nation’s public life and seeks to ensure that political and judicial officials do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. Judicial Watch fulfills its educational mission through litigation, investigations, and public outreach. Visit Judicial Watch at https://www.judicialwatch.org/
