Posted on 11/15/2010 3:00:42 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
EDINBURG, Nov. 15 - The University of Texas-Pan American takes great pride in its students and their accomplishments and as UTPA president, it is an honor and a privilege to be among them, represent them, and to speak on their behalf.
Today, I am writing on behalf of 602 of our bright, dedicated students who, despite being reared in the United States, are labeled as “undocumented immigrants” because their parents entered the U.S. years ago without proper paperwork. By no choice of their own, these students are facing an uncertain future.
Take the case of J. Alex Garrido, an honor student at UT Pan Am and an aspiring lawyer, who was brought to this country when he was only 13. He was terrified of leaving his home in Veracruz, Mexico, but his parents wanted a better life for him and his brother. Now, despite having grown up in the U.S., despite graduating from high school here in the Valley, despite almost having completed his undergraduate degree at our University, and despite his feelings that the United States is “his country,” Alex could be deported back to a country he no longer knows.
Alex used to be a member of the Student Government Association at UT Pan Am, but he has given up all his extracurricular activities to publicly campaign for the DREAM Act – the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. He has organized rallies, met with lawmakers, and even held meetings with opponents of the DREAM Act. His work has come at great personal sacrifice. He’s even received threats. I am proud of the courageous stand that he has taken, and I fully support him and the DREAM Act.
There are tens of thousands of other stories like Alex’s throughout the U.S., and there may be more students at UT Pan Am than the 602 of whom we know. It is time that we make things right for these students who have been trapped between the long-ago actions of their parents and current immigration laws that are keeping these young “Americans” from truly being Americans.
The DREAM Act was introduced in Congress as a way to right this wrong. The latest version of this bipartisan legislation was introduced in the Senate in 2009. A similar bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives is called the American Dream Act.
Under these acts, most students with good moral character who came to the U.S. at age 15 or younger at least five years before the bill’s enactment would qualify for conditional permanent resident status upon acceptance to college, graduation from a U.S. high school, or being awarded a GED in the U.S. Such residency status would allow our 602 UT Pan American students to work and be eligible for student loans and federal work-study programs, thus giving them the means to realize their own “American Dream.”
In spite of the rhetoric to the contrary, the DREAM Act is not about amnesty. It is about giving young people who have grown up in this country a “pathway to citizenship” – citizenship that must be earned through hard work and educational achievement. According to the DREAM Act, a student on conditional permanent resident status could earn permanent resident status only if certain conditions are met, including maintaining good moral character, graduating from a two-year college or certain vocational colleges or studying for at least two years toward a bachelor’s or higher degree, or by serving in the U.S. armed forces for at least two years.
In this wonderful democracy of ours, how can we continue to deny citizenship – and all of the privileges and responsibilities that such status implies – to young people who are striving to better themselves and make a better life for their families through hard work and education? How can we even consider sending a young person back to a country that he or she doesn’t know or even remember?
America has always been known as the “land of opportunity.” Alex and the students like him deserve to live without fear. And we in the United States and in South Texas need leaders like Alex. His dreams are our dreams; his America is our America.
Robert S. Nelsen is president of the University of Texas-Pan American. This op-ed first appeared in The (McAllen) Monitor.
TFB! Illegals.
Accept Reality
And the Roman Empire didn't collapse because barbarian hordes invaded their borders.. since the barbarians merely entered without the proper imperial scrolls.
How can we even consider sending a young person back to a country that he or she doesn’t know or even remember?
It would be horrible for him to have to go to a country he does not know...and yet...HIS OWN PARENTS DID IT TO HIM ALREADY!
Take the case of J. Alex Garrido, an honor student at UT Pan Am and an aspiring lawyer, who was brought to this country when he was only 13. He was terrified of leaving his home in Veracruz, Mexico, but his parents wanted a better life for him...
And the Roman Empire didn't collapse because barbarian hordes invaded their borders.. since the barbarians merely entered without the proper imperial scrolls.
602 illegals at UT Pan American (oh brother). How much money do you think the Mexican government gives to “UTPA” as it’s share of the cost? How about for all the other years these illegals were in public schools?
I have a DREAM and it’s that we start dunning these Latin American countries for educating their citizens.
The University of Texas-Pan American takes great pride in using tax money extorted from hard working, tax paying citizens to subsidize college educations for illegal immigrants.
Oh yes, it's about their amnesty.
Offer them a deal. The parents go back to their own country after paying a (means tested) fine, receiving a suspended sentence with the understanding that if they comes back to the US without the proper paperwork they WILL be jailed.
Then junior gets a visa and whatever as long as he stays out of trouble and keeps his grades up. But below a B average or the least brush with the law and he’s history.
Ping!
Deport 10,000 illegal alien punk-arse gangbangers, then I will listen to you on the Dream Act. So far I’m just hearing the world’s smallest violin. If you have to suffer for the sins of your parents (invading America and spawning an anchor baby) I could care less. America suffers under an illegal alien invasion....your hopes and aspirations no longer amuse me
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