Audio Clip
California Bar Considers Admitting Undocumented Immigrant
SAN DIEGO -- The case of Mexican-born Sergio Garcia - an undocumented immigrant - is unprecedented.
It would be the first reviewed by a California state bar panel since the association of attorneys began asking applicants about their immigration status three years ago.
As a civil lawyer based in Glendale, Arizona, Mauricio Hernandez has been following Garcia's situation.
According to Hernandez, the main concern of the state bar will be that Garcia will not qualify for employment without the proper documentation and he could at any point of his legal career end up detained and in deportation proceedings.
"That's a practical consideration, but it's really more of a risk that Sergio Garcia is going to run," Hernandez said. "That would fall on the applicant, not on the bar itself."
Garcia was brought to the U.S. illegally by his parents when he was 17-months old. This fact should not constitute a violation of moral character, one of the main requirements of the legal profession, Garcia previously told a legal newspaper.