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http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-15/news/fl-illegal-immigrant-lawyer-20120415_1_immigration-status-william-gheen-immigration-advocates
Illegal immigrant seeks admission to Florida Bar
5:01 p.m. EST, April 15, 2012|By Rafael A. Olmeda, Sun Sentinel
Can an immigrant without a green card get a Florida Bar card?
Aspiring lawyer Jose Godinez-Samperio, 25, a Tampa-area resident, is hoping the answer is yes.
A native of Mexico who entered the United States legally with his parents 16 years ago on a tourist visa, Godinez-Samperio is a graduate of the Florida State University College of Law, the valedictorian of the Armwood High School class of 2004, an Eagle Scout — and an undocumented immigrant.
That last quality may keep him from achieving his dream.
The Florida Board of Bar Examiners, which grants membership to the Bar, has asked the state Supreme Court to determine whether it can accept someone who is not in the country legally. The Supreme Court flagged the case as "high profile" last week.
"No one who has shown this guy's level of contempt for American law should be practicing law," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, a political action committee that opposes amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
Tom Fitton, president of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, agreed.
"He can't practice as a lawyer," Fitton said. "He is not legally able to work in the United States. … It seems to me that it would be an absurdity to give him a Bar card at this point."
Neither Fitton nor Gheen was aware of the Florida case before it was flagged as "high profile" last week. Similar applications are pending for students in California and New York.
But Godinez-Samperio, who once described himself as "undocumented, unapologetic and unafraid," has influential allies who believe his immigration status should not keep him from getting a license to practice law, even though federal statutes would forbid him using that license to earn a living.
His attorney and former law professor, Sandy D'Alemberte, is a former Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives from Miami, a former president of FSU and a former president of the American Bar Association.
"It is unfair to deny him the credentials he's earned," said D'Alemberte, noting that there's nothing in the "Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to the Florida Bar" that requires applicants to prove their immigration status.
In fact, D'Alemberte said, Godinez-Samperio has been candid about his status at every opportunity, disclosing it on college and law school applications (his application to law school included an essay titled "The Consequences of my Criminal Childhood," although being in the country illegally is a civil infraction, not a crime).
Immigration advocates have lobbied Congress to pass the Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented children who were brought to this country by their parents and raised in the United States. Congress has yet to pass such a law.
So many directions to go with this one. These kinds of situations make it difficult to clearly solve the illegal immigration problem we have in this country.
Illegal immigrant seeks admission to Florida Bar
5:01 p.m. EST, April 15, 2012|By Rafael A. Olmeda, Sun Sentinel
Can an immigrant without a green card get a Florida Bar card?
Aspiring lawyer Jose Godinez-Samperio, 25, a Tampa-area resident, is hoping the answer is yes.
A native of Mexico who entered the United States legally with his parents 16 years ago on a tourist visa, Godinez-Samperio is a graduate of the Florida State University College of Law, the valedictorian of the Armwood High School class of 2004, an Eagle Scout — and an undocumented immigrant.
That last quality may keep him from achieving his dream.
The Florida Board of Bar Examiners, which grants membership to the Bar, has asked the state Supreme Court to determine whether it can accept someone who is not in the country legally. The Supreme Court flagged the case as "high profile" last week.
"No one who has shown this guy's level of contempt for American law should be practicing law," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, a political action committee that opposes amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
Tom Fitton, president of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, agreed.
"He can't practice as a lawyer," Fitton said. "He is not legally able to work in the United States. … It seems to me that it would be an absurdity to give him a Bar card at this point."
Neither Fitton nor Gheen was aware of the Florida case before it was flagged as "high profile" last week. Similar applications are pending for students in California and New York.
But Godinez-Samperio, who once described himself as "undocumented, unapologetic and unafraid," has influential allies who believe his immigration status should not keep him from getting a license to practice law, even though federal statutes would forbid him using that license to earn a living.
His attorney and former law professor, Sandy D'Alemberte, is a former Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives from Miami, a former president of FSU and a former president of the American Bar Association.
"It is unfair to deny him the credentials he's earned," said D'Alemberte, noting that there's nothing in the "Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to the Florida Bar" that requires applicants to prove their immigration status.
In fact, D'Alemberte said, Godinez-Samperio has been candid about his status at every opportunity, disclosing it on college and law school applications (his application to law school included an essay titled "The Consequences of my Criminal Childhood," although being in the country illegally is a civil infraction, not a crime).
Immigration advocates have lobbied Congress to pass the Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented children who were brought to this country by their parents and raised in the United States. Congress has yet to pass such a law.
So many directions to go with this one. These kinds of situations make it difficult to clearly solve the illegal immigration problem we have in this country.
