After years of legal battle, Mexican immigrant becomes a New York lawyer
Cesar Vargas, brought to this country from Mexico as a 5-year-old, has lived in the U.S. without documentation for most of his life.
Nonetheless, he graduated from college and law school and, in 2011, passed the New York bar exam. And, on Wednesday, after years of legal battle, largely because of his immigration status, he was sworn in as a New York lawyer.
“It’s a day I didn’t think would come,” he told the New York Law Journal (sub. req.) beforehand.
Currently authorized to be in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, Vargas experienced an additional delay in his quest to be a lawyer over a one-year probation sentence in a misdemeanor trespassing case. He had interrupted a speech at a political event and shouted a question about immigration policy.
But in December, his probation ended, and his conviction has now been expunged, a lawyer for Vargas told the legal publication.
The Des Moines Register also has a story.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “CUNY Law Grad Reveals Undocumented Status, Fears He Can’t Practice Despite Passing NY Bar”
ABAJournal.com: “Immigrant who won NY court OK to practice faces political-protest probation roadblock”
See also:
ABA Journal: “The Dream Bar: Some Children Illegally Living in the United States Grow Up to Want to Be Attorneys”
ABAJournal.com: “Undocumented immigrants can practice in Calif. under new law, top state court says”
ABAJournal.com: “Immigrants living in US illegally can’t be lawyers, top Florida court says”
ABAJournal.com: “Florida lawmakers pass bill allowing noncitizens who stayed in the US illegally to get law licenses”
