From almond picker to attorney

Sergio Garcia, 36, arrived in the U.S. as a teenager to pick almonds with his father, who was a permanent legal resident.

His father filed a petition in 1994 seeking an immigration visa for his son. It was accepted in 1995, but because of the backlog of visa applications from people from Mexico, Garcia has never received a visa number. He applied for citizenship in 1994 and is still working toward that goal.

Garcia worked in the fields, at a grocery store and eventually as a paralegal. Garcia graduated from a California high school, attended Butte College; California State, Chico; and California Northern School of Law. He received his law degree in May 2009 and passed the California bar examination the same year.