Cesar Vargas Fights To Protect Others Despite His Legal Status

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

From a young age, César Vargas ' mother Teresa Galindo, 72, taught him that hard work pays off. "[She] was always selling food on the street, babysitting and recycling bottles," he recalls of his mother raising him and his four siblings in New York City. "[She] would collect cans and she would take us to the supermarkets to sell them. We would be embarrassed that our friends would see us, but she would do it every day. [She] would always say: 'Go to school. School is the future '.”

Last February, after struggling for almost five years - in which he even filed a lawsuit to obtain his attorney's license to practice his profession after graduating college and passing the New York bar exam - Vargas obtained his license, making him the first undocumented person to carry one in the state. "When I saw my diploma," reflects Vargas, "I saw [that] I was living the American dream."

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The lawyer now works with community organizations in Staten Island County of New York to protect immigrant rights and help them become legalized. “I was one of those children that came [to the US] crossing the border,” highlights Vargas, who is still undocumented. He also represents younger children who entered the US illegally fleeing from the violence in Central America. "Now I'm going to be the lawyer who represents them so they can achieve their dreams."