California Grants Law License to Illegal Immigrant

January 2, 2014
By JASON DEAREN
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO
The California Supreme Court granted a law license on Thursday to a man living in the United States illegally who graduated from law school and passed the state bar exam.

The decision means Sergio Garcia can begin practicing law despite his immigration status.

Garcia had challenged a 1996 federal law that bars people living in the country illegally from receiving professional licenses from government agencies or with the use of public funds, unless state lawmakers vote otherwise.

Shortly after the court heard arguments in the case, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a state law that authorized the granting of the license. The new law went into effect Jan. 1.

Garcia arrived in the U.S. illegally 20 years ago to pick almonds with his father and worked at a grocery store and in the fields while attending school.

The case has pitted the Obama administration, which opposes licensing Garcia, against state officials who have supported him.

The Obama position in the case came as a surprise to some, since it adopted a program that shields people who were brought to the U.S. as children, graduated from high school and have kept a clean criminal record from deportation and allows them to legally work in the country.

At a hearing in September a majority of the state Supreme Court justices appeared reluctant to grant Garcia the license, saying the law prohibits them from doing so unless the Legislature acts.

The court is in charge of licensing attorneys in California.

Lawyers for the federal government argued that Garcia was barred from receiving his license because the court's budget is funded by public money.

But Garcia said his case is about showing other immigrants that hard work and dedication mean something in the U.S.

Garcia, 36, worked in the fields and at a grocery store before attending community college. He became a paralegal, went to law school and passed the bar on his first try. He applied for citizenship in 1994, and is still working toward that goal.

His effort has been supported by State Bar officials and California's attorney general, who argued that citizenship status is not a requirement to receive a California law license.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...e-to-immigrant

Allowed to Join the Bar, but Not to Take a Job

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/us/immigrant-in-us-illegally-may-practice-law-california-court-rules.html?_r=0

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=2...egal-Immigrant

http://www.alipac.us/f12/feds-oppose...icense-261866/

Quote:

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The Obama administration on Thursday said giving an undocumented immigrant a California law license would violate a 1996 federal immigration law.

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http://www.alipac.us/f12/illegal-ali...states-267090/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/fla-bar-now...-alien-262154/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/ice-deports...icense-261934/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/new-york-co...-alien-291834/

https://dvhu1327i3h2y.cloudfront.net...a616a_1024.jpg

Actually CA. was the world's eight largest economy and dropped to ninth
and in 2013 moved back up to eighth.


Good news, Jerry Brown: CA again world’s eighth largest economy

Posted on July 11, 2013 | By cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com (Carla Marinucci)

California political leaders, starting with Gov. Jerry Brown, should be popping the champagne corks: the state has rebounded enough to surpass Italy and Russia and reclaim its title as the world’s eight’s largest economy in 2013, according to a new study by the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy.

The study, released Thursday, cited “California’s strong job gains in 2013 combined with the recent IMF forecast that most of Europe will remain in recession this year” as reasons that the Golden State will move up in its rankings this year.

“California posted a real GDP gain of 3.5% in 2012 tied with Minnesota for the fifth-highest in the nation behind North Dakota, Texas and California’s northern neighbors, Oregon and Washington,” according to a release from the CCSCE. “The U.S. GDP gain was a full percentage lower at 2.5%.”

Individual regions of California also rank strongly, the study showed.
Among them:

*Southern California with a 2012 GDP of $925 billion would place after 15th-ranked South Korea

*The Bay Area, with a 2012 GDP of $594 billion ranks, just after 19th-ranked Switzerland.

*San Diego’s GDP was estimated at $179 billion, followed in California by the San Joaquin Valley at $132 billion and the Sacramento region at $102 billion.

California lost some of its economic sheen in recent years and had slipped from its #8 ranking, and last year, the state — along with Italy and the Russian Federation — were tied with a GDP of $2.0 trillion.

But “the European recession and California’s strong 2012 GDP growth allowed the state to catch Italy and move closer to France and the U.K. in 2012,” the CCSCE said.

CCSCE’s Stephen Levy, in his analysis, said that since 2000 California has been “an average growth state matching the U.S. real GDP growth of 1.5% per year. The state outpaces the nation in strong growth years while trailing the nation in recession periods.”

And “both CCSCE and the UCLA Anderson Forecast expect state job growth to outpace the nation over the next ten years as California, once again, returns to above-average growth rates based on competitive advantages in technology, trade and tourism/entertainment,” wrote Levy.

“Falling unemployment rates, rising home prices new permits and improving revenues for state and local governments confirm that the California economy is recovering from the deep recession caused by the loss of 600,000 construction-related jobs.”

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election...rgest-economy/

http://www.therightnews.net/wp-conte...reme-court.jpg