'Dreamer' sworn into N.J. bar as Murphy vows to join DACA lawsuit

Parthiv Patel, a 27-year-old immigrant from India who came to New Jersey when he was 5, became the first so-called “Dreamer” to be admitted to the New Jersey bar on Wednesday.

He was sworn in by state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, the son of Indian immigrants, during a State House ceremony at which Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, announced that New Jersey would join a multi-state lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to end an Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

That program, commonly referred to as DACA, has protected from deportation 800,000 undocumented immigrants across the country, including about 22,000 in New Jersey, who were brought to the United States as children. A fight over the fate of the program led to the temporary shutdown of the federal government over the weekend.

“Today I stand here with one message: Dreamers are Americans,” Patel said. “We are fifth-graders alongside your children in the school play. We are your friends and your colleagues. And we are your doctors and your accountants, and now, in New Jersey, your lawyers.”

Patel, who graduated from Drexel University’s law school in 2016 and lives in Mount Laurel, was also admitted last month to the Pennsylvania bar. He was initially denied admission there based on his immigration status, but he filed a successful appeal with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Bid to save DACA

The lawsuit New Jersey intends to join was initiated by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in September and includes 15 states and the District of Columbia. It argues that state economies will suffer if DACA recipients lose their status.

The suit, which seeks to maintain the program, also claims that Trump’s decision to end the program was “motivated, at least in part, by a discriminatory motive” against Mexicans, the largest group of beneficiaries.

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Murphy said joining the lawsuit sends the message that “we will have the backs of our 22,000 Dreamers.” He also called it “completely inexcusable” that Congress has not been able to agree on a permanent fix to the DACA program.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in California temporarily blocked the repeal of DACA as part of a separate lawsuit filed by California and other states. Grewal said New Jersey will seek the same result in the Eastern District of New York, where the lawsuit initiated by Schneiderman is being heard.

Asked what else New Jersey could do to help immigrants, Murphy said his administration is finalizing plans to set up an Office of Immigration Protection and Defense, although he didn’t provide a timeline.

Murphy, who pledged during his campaign to declare New Jersey a “sanctuary state,” which would limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials, also said that “we are absolutely committed to doing the things we talked about throughout the campaign and the transition.”

‘We are talking about human beings’

Johanna Calle, director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, said she was proud that New Jersey had joined the DACA lawsuit, noting that the state has the third-largest foreign-born population and the fifth-largest undocumented population in the country.

“There is no reason why New Jersey didn’t join earlier, because of how many families that are being impacted by this lack of action from the federal government,’’ said Calle, who attended Wednesday’s ceremony in Trenton.

Watching Patel be sworn in to the New Jersey bar shows what is at stake for other immigrants like him who would benefit from legislation that would provide them a path to citizenship, Calle said.

“We are talking about human beings who have aspirations like everyone else, who have jobs, who have careers, who have lives, and who are really being productive members of society, and who want to give back to this country in so many ways,’’ she said. “And for some reason, congressmen and women think that is something that needs to be negotiated somehow.”

Marisol Conde-Hernandez, a DACA recipient who graduated from Rutgers Law School last year and is planning to take the bar exam next month, said Patel's admission to the New Jersey bar was a good sign for her and others like her.



“And it’s a better sign that they decided to go public with it,’’ she said. “It sends an implied message that someone with DACA status in and of itself isn’t prohibited.”

Cesar Vargas, New York’s first openly undocumented lawyer and a co-founder of the DREAM Action Coalition, also celebrated the announcements of Patel’s swearing in and New Jersey’s joining the DACA lawsuit.

His journey to becoming an attorney took years after the New York bar denied his admittance on account of his immigration status. He then petitioned the courts, and after a three-year legal fight, he was allowed to take the bar oath in 2016.

“It’s really incredible and a big moment, especially in this administration at this time when protections are being taken away,’’ Vargas said.

But Patel said Wednesday that he remains vulnerable to immigration action, especially if Congress cannot reach a deal on DACA that Trump will sign. According to an ACLU press release, Patel’s DACA status and work authorization expires Aug. 9.

“The danger is real and the danger is there,” he said. But, he added, “I don’t consider myself in any particular threat just because I know people in America are willing to stand up and stand next to me in this fight.”

Email: pugliese@northjersey.com and alvarado@northjersey.com