September 2009 Weddings
Stand up for something you believe in.
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
WDYT?
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/24/11369925-can-an-illegal-immigrant-become-a-lawyer?lite
Summary: Person in the country illegally goes to college, then law school and passes bar exam. State bar is seeking an advisory opinion from the Justice Department as to whether or not he should be barred and allowed to practice law.
Stand up for something you believe in.
Re: WDYT?
I don't think they should bar him. For people who don't know, being barred involves a significant number of background checks, FBI fingerprinting, tons of paperwork, interviews, certification in character and fitness to practice, etc. At the point of FBI fingerprinting, IMO, a report should have been filed with the Immigration Bureau.
Even if they bar him, he's unemployable. So, either he works for free for his entire life, which begs the question, how can he live? Essentially he'd be paid, at least in kind, without having to pay taxes, etc. like other people.
Finally, I seriously doubt that anyone will give him malpractice insurance, because, at least in my experience, you have to submit I-9s forms for that. Which would mean that even if they barred him and he was paid under the table, he'd be practicing in a profession that is strictly monitored and very risky without the insurance that is required for appropriate professional conduct.
My biggest question is why hasn't he been working toward legal status as an alien or a citizen? Seriously, he obviously is fairly intelligent and he has the ability to read laws/ fill out his own paperwork after the legal education. Seems like if what he really wanted was to practice he would have sought legal status. If he's so proud of being illegal, and trying to make a point of it, he should be affected by the consequences that come with it.
Stand up for something you believe in.
Stand up for something you believe in.
This was my first question as well. I just don't get it...
updated 10.03.12
This too. I understand that for a lot of illegals the process of becoming a citizen is too hard (not that I agree with them being here ilegally, but I understand the struggles). This guy could've figured it out. He clearly has the intellect, language skills, and time to make that happen.
yep, this all was my thought too.
All of this. It's a shame he didn't do it the right way, clearly he's intellegent (or therbi something seriously wrong with the legal system).
To look at it another way, what if he waited to be barred until after aquiring citizenship now. What would everyone's opinion on that be?
I just kind of pity him for being so book smart and clearly common sense stupid. Did he actually comprehend anything he learned in ethics? And, like Mary said, there are so many background check type of things that go on before you even take the bar exam that it never should have even gotten that far.
No matter what he has a law degree and that isn't really something to snivel at; he should either become a citizen and practice here or go back to where he's from (I have not read the article yet) and see what he needs to do to become a licensed attorney there. Maybe it wouldn't take much?
The job part of it annoys me as well. As someone who did all of the same things he did and then had to look for a job for over a year (as many people are) I would be pissed if someone who is not a citizen of this country got a job over me!
Illegal immigrantion is a tough situation and it makes me glad thta it's not something that I'm forced to deal with a on a regular basis
I agree that he should have been working towards becoming legal as hard as he worked towards everything else. However I have always been annoyed at parents who bring their children into the country illegally.
I wonder if they even consider the struggles their children will face. I realize that they were facing struggles in their own country, and that is why they came here. But, they decided for their children that they would face a life as an adult without citizenship to the country they live in.
This man did not choose to come to this country illegally, his parents did, and I believe that should play a part in the decision to allow him to practice law. He has shown to be an upstanding, intelligent, hardworking person, why would we not want him practicing law due to a decision that was out of his control?
June Bugs Blog
Because ever since he was 18 he has had the same liberty as everyone else to do as he pleased within reason. I was SUPER young when I went to law school and I still was 24 when I was barred- that's at least 6 years of time where he was an adult who could apply for a visa or citizenship.
Stand up for something you believe in.
I guess this just hit a nerve with me, totally unrelated to him practicing law or not.
Like I said, I do agree that he made a mistake not to become a citizen. I guess my frustration is more because he should not have been placed in the situation to begin with. I feel his parents made a decision based on their best interests at the time, not considering the effect on the remainder of his life.
I work with teens, and there have been quite a few who were illegal. The trouble they have to go through to get what they need to live sometimes is horrible (like legally hold a job so they can survive when they turn 18). To think that they didn't ask to face these trouble irritates me. And they don't make it easy to become legal.
10 years ago I took a teen who was about to turn 18 to see a lawyer about the process of becoming a citizen, the lawyer pretty much told her not to count on it. I can't remember the reasoning now, but the message was that it was not likely to happen.
June Bugs Blog
I agree with mary here. It's not like he didn't know he was in the country illegally. He had time to fix it and didn't.
I'm going to go a step farther and say that he not only failed to do it but he willingly ignored that he needed to do it because he wanted to be an exception- then when the bar association sought an advisory opinion on whether or not he could be barred he behaves like they're taking away something he earned.
I understand parents putting kids in bad situations, and I understand that it is going to be hard, but if anyone is able do it- BUT a fully educated attorney who passed his bar exam and wants to practice immigration law is probably the person who could do it.
Stand up for something you believe in.
agreed.