New Jersey: The New Jersey Bar has officially admitted its first "Dreamer." And with his historic swearing-in on Wednesday, attorney Parthiv Patel has given the Garden State's DACA recipients and immigrant population a much-needed ray of hope in a time of "uncertainty and chaos," says Governor Phil Murphy.
Murphy and recently instated Attorney General Gurbir Grewal – who made history himself as the first Sikh-American to serve as Attorney General in the history of the United States – welcomed Patel to his new vocation as a lawyer. Patel immigrated to New Jersey from India when he was five-years-old. He received DACA in 2012, granting him authorization to work in the United States. After graduating from law school, Patel passed the bar exams of both New Jersey and Pennsylvania in July 2016.
However, Patel's application for bar admission was by the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners on the ground that his immigration status made him ineligible. Patel appealed with help from the ACLU of Pennsylvania and several cooperating attorneys. On Dec. 18, 2017, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar. "It is truly an honor to be sworn into the bar," Patel said. "I hope that other Dreamers will be afforded the same opportunities that I have gotten and that no federal changes will force those of us who work so hard for what we accomplish to leave our communities. I have always dreamed of being a lawyer. After today, that dream is a reality."
Murphy also said that New Jersey would be filing a motion to join New York and 15 other states in a lawsuit, New York v. Trump, to combat any federal changes that could negatively impact Dreamers in the Garden State and around the country.
