Raising the bar
Every red-blooded Mexican knows that having your own corrido means you have achieved folk hero status.
“The corrido of Sergio García,” praising the deeds of the young Californian who on Jan. 2 became the first undocumented immigrant in the U.S. legally authorized to practice law, certifies García as a bona fide immigrant hero.
García’s corrido is now part of the voluminous library of such songs that are, according to the Smithsonian, “a gritty account of history and current events. The underdog looms large in corridos. Humble men and women who have defied oppression are a favorite theme like the corrido of César Chávez leader of the United Farm Workers Union.”
“A nice surprise, you have to listen to it, I think it’s pretty good,” García said Tuesday with a hearty laugh from his California home.
Now 36, García came to the U.S. as a teen and picked almonds with his father before attending law school and passing California’s bar exam with flying colors in 2009.
“Because I had no papers I wasn’t able to practice law,” said the personable García in flawless Spanish. “It took four difficult years but that changed with the court’s 7-0 decision, a convincing victory.”
The California Supreme Court, after weighing a federal statute that restricts undocumented immigrants from getting professional licenses but allows states to pass laws making them eligible, decided that García should be granted a license. The state had passed such a law last fall and it became effective Jan. 1.
“For me as a person this fulfills a childhood dream,” García said. Two cases similar to García’s are being considered in Florida and in New York.
Many hope the California decision will make things easier for César Vargas, a Mexican-born Dreamer and Staten Island resident who graduated from CUNY School of Law, and for José Manuel Godínez Samperio, who finished law school at Florida State University and is also Mexican-born.
Both of them, like García, were well above-average students.
“García’s case sets a precedent but leaves a lot of unanswered questions,” said José Pérez, a Latino Justice PRLDEF lawyer who is representing Vargas. “Every state has its own rules.”
Vargas, 30, a vocal leader of the DREAMers, was brought to the U.S. as a child. He submitted his bar application in October 2012 but declined to comment on his case, heeding Pérez’s advice.
“Hopefully the New York courts can make a decision soon,” he said in an email.
Last fall, despite rating him a “stellar” candidate, a New York State Supreme Court committee decided not to admit him to the bar because of his immigration status, saying the decision should be made by the courts. His case is now under consideration by the state Supreme Court’s appellate division. Godínez Samperio has been awaiting a decision by the Florida Supreme Court since 2011.
It is common knowledge that there are hundreds of cases like García, Vargas and Godínez Samperio’s that have not come out in public yet.
“(The court decision) also allows me to leave a legacy to all the young people who do not have licenses,” García said. “Maybe my case will create a domino effect all across the country.”
If it does, we could soon be singing along to many more corridos.