Raúl García

Vice President of Policy & Legislation Policy and Legislation Team

Raú Garcia, nuevo director legislativo del Departamento de Política y Legislación (PAL)

Media Inquiries

Geoffrey Nolan
Public Affairs and Communications Officer
gnolan@earthjustice.org

Bar Admissions

VA

Raúl García is the Vice President of Policy and Legislation at Earthjustice. He leads a team of advocates who work with policymakers in Congress, federal agencies, and the White House to advance some of the most consequential policy issues around climate, environmental health, and biodiversity. With an emphasis on Earthjustice’s commitment to partnership, the Policy and Legislation team centers the communities most impacted by these issues and advocates for an affirmative vision for more equitable and climate-conscious policies.

Before becoming Vice President, Raúl served as the Legislative Director for Healthy Communities where he worked on Earthjustice’s advocacy strategies to defend and improve federal safeguards for clean air, clean water, and against toxics exposure. Raúl previously served as a Senior Legislative Counsel at Earthjustice with a focus on protecting the National Environmental Policy Act and advancing environmental, health, and safety protections in infrastructure development.

Prior to joining Earthjustice, Raúl dedicated his career working for the protection of rights of underrepresented communities, including advocating for voting and civil rights, immigration benefits and labor and employment protections. He credits these experiences with informing his own partnership-centered approach to environmental advocacy. Raúl previously was a practicing attorney specializing in family and employment immigration petitions.

Passionate about the socio-political advancement of historically underrepresented communities, Raúl has worked for a number of organizations seeking to empower and defend them. He served as a legal clerk at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and worked at the Mexican Embassy, Laborers’ International Union of North America and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.

Raúl is a native of Mexico City and moved to Chicago at age 10 and cites his own lived experience as informing his commitment to justice and equity.

He is admitted to the Virginia Bar and received his JD from American University Washington College of Law in 2013. He is also a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Villanova University, where he majored in Global Interdisciplinary Studies, Honors, and Political Science with a Certificate in International Relations.

The Latest from Raúl García

President Joe Biden speaks at the House Democrats Annual Issues Conference, Thursday, February 8, 2024, at Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Virginia.
March 7, 2024

Celebrating Climate Action and Environmental Justice at the State of the Union while Charting a Better Pathway Forward

While the Biden administration has made incredible progress on addressing both climate change and environmental justices, these crises require us to do more to live up to our obligations.
U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
July 19, 2023

House Republicans Released Their Interior-EPA Appropriations Bill. It’s Even Worse than We Expected

Congress must reject these poison pill riders and non-negotiable provisions that will harm communities and the environment.
Homes in Washington, D.C.’s Brookland neighborhood were condemned to clear room for a highway in the 1960s. The community fought back.
July 13, 2023

How ‘Freeway Revolts’ Helped Create the People’s Environmental Law

The National Environmental Policy Act is a tool to uplift the people’s environmental voice. Grassroots activists in an iconic Black community paved the way for the law to pass unanimously.
May 31, 2023

Lo Que Usted Necesita Saber Sobre El Techo De La Deuda Y Sus Impactos En La Economía Y El Medio Ambiente

Los republicanos de la cámara baja negociaron un acuerdo peligroso para desmantelar las leyes ambientales y silenciar a las comunidades.
Storm clouds pass over the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
May 31, 2023

What You Need to Know About the Debt Ceiling and Its Impacts on the Economy and the Environment

House Republicans brokered a dangerous deal to gut environmental laws and silence communities.
May 18, 2023

In the News: Wall Street Journal

The U.S. ‘Fast-Tracked’ a Power Project. After 17 Years, It Just Got Approved.

“Cancer clusters, asthma rates, premature deaths: they all tell the story of what can go wrong.”
Silhouette of oil and gas drilling rigs.
March 29, 2023

It’s Time to Tell the Truth About Republicans’ Disastrous Energy Package

Republicans' first major legislative package is a giveaway to corporate polluters.
September 20, 2022

In the News: San Francisco Chronicle

Lawsuit threatened over EtO emissions, Council votes for air monitors

“The consequences are very real … because what we are seeing is direct impacts to those communities and to those very children. I think the EPA needs to learn from those communities like the one in Laredo that is standing up for themselves. They need to realize this issue is not going away. The community continues to put pressure on them, and we’ll take them to court if we have to.”
August 4, 2022

In the News: The Denver Post

EPA warns of elevated cancer risk linked to medical sterilization facilities in Lakewood, other communities

“Now that EPA has new information on precisely where the worst health threats are, the agency must use its full authority to … require fenceline monitoring at these facilities [and] issue a strong new rule. No one should get cancer from facilities that are used to sterilize equipment in the treatment of cancer.”
June 27, 2022

In the News: Nola.com

‘Cancer Alley’ sees more attention, but communities press for firm action

“It certainly is getting more attention. But I think that the results are not where they're supposed to be yet.”
August 11, 2021

In the News: The Counter

EPA warns an immigrant detention center to stop cleaning microwaves with pesticides

“They have been put on notice. They know what they’re doing is wrong, and they just don’t seem to care. This is why it’s up to our government to step in and make sure that this stops.”
June 15, 2021

In the News: ABC Money

Trump Spent USD 28 Million For Every Kilometer Of Wall With Mexico

“This is a victory for border communities, for immigrant communities and for our environment. Once again, they will be able to prosper without the threat of a border wall.”
April 15, 2021

In the News: E&E News

EPA staffers head to border to aid unaccompanied minors

"I hope they take back what they see, what they smell and what they touch and act upon it with their jurisdiction."
March 22, 2021

In the News: Los Angeles Times

Prison company violated federal pesticide law in misuse of disinfectant inside immigration detention center

“This is a huge justice problem. This chemical has been used at Adelanto for nearly a decade. We could be looking at hundreds of thousands of specific violations of law.”
November 22, 2016

Nos Estamos Perdiendo del 90 Por Ciento de la Historia del Oleoducto Dakota Access

La protesta del oleoducto Dakota Access es un intento necesario de proteger el agua y la cultura nativa.
Dakota Access pipeline protest at the Sacred Stone Camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
November 22, 2016

We’re Missing 90 Percent of the Dakota Access Pipeline Story

The Dakota Access pipeline protest is not a violent riot; it’s a solemn struggle to protect water and culture.