North Miami high school students fight valedictorian's deportation order

North Miami high school students fight valedictorian's deportation order [msn.com]

Quote : Pelaez left Colombia in 1998 with her parents, who entered the United States illegally and divorced before Pelaez could become a citizen. She told NBC Miami Thursday that she has no memory of Colombia and loves her friends and this country. "I've been asked the question before: 'Do I feel American?' or 'Do I believe I am?'" she said. "And I don't think it's a question. I'm American. I know the national anthem. I know the laws. I know what it is to be an American." Pelaez has earned nearly all A's in the school's international baccalaureate program, but her ability to go to college is threatened substantially by her immigration status.

Seems a terrible wast of human capital.

It sucks for Pelaez but GTFO and thank your parents for it as they're the only ones to blame.

Another day, another "but, but, but America is all I know" deportation story...

Quote from LivninSC : It sucks for Pelaez but GTFO and thank your parents for it as they're the only ones to blame. Another day, another "but, but, but America is all I know" deportation story...

agreed

Quote from skiman : North Miami high school students fight valedictorian's deportation order [msn.com] Seems a terrible wast of human capital.

i agree, waste to cover this story, waste of giving her this education.
Sucks her parents weren't responsible.

No sympathy from me, i waited 5 years before I was allowed to immigrate into the usa as a kid.
My parents were green card legal aliens living in the USA and I had to live in Taiwan from age 1-5 until immigrations passed my Green Card.

Quote from LivninSC : It sucks for Pelaez but GTFO and thank your parents for it as they're the only ones to blame. Another day, another "but, but, but America is all I know" deportation story...

Why blame the kid for what the parents did?

The more loyal Americans, the better, a point many 1070 fans don't understand.

Quote from IPT : No sympathy from me, i waited 5 years before I was allowed to immigrate into the usa as a kid. My parents were green card legal aliens living in the USA and I had to live in Taiwan from age 1-5 until immigrations passed my Green Card.

You shouldn't have had to wait, and one bad immigration policy is no reason to perpetuate another bad immigration policy.

Quote from LivninSC : It sucks for Pelaez but GTFO and thank your parents for it as they're the only ones to blame. Another day, another "but, but, but America is all I know" deportation story...

Quote from Sokiru : agreed

Quote from IPT : i agree, waste to cover this story, waste of giving her this education. Sucks her parents weren't responsible. No sympathy from me, i waited 5 years before I was allowed to immigrate into the usa as a kid. My parents were green card legal aliens living in the USA and I had to live in Taiwan from age 1-5 until immigrations passed my Green Card.

These responses all seem terribly shortsighted, looking to a model of intergenerational retributive justice.

Setting aside the fact that she, herself, hasn't actually done anything wrong, isn't this attitude more about spite than self interest? After all "we" have already invested in her education and helped to turn out what appears to be a promising and well adjusted person. Shouldn't we also reap the benefit of that investment rather than shipping it off to some other country?

Quote from larrymoencurly : Why blame the kid for what the parents did? The more loyal Americans, the better, a point many 1070 fans don't understand.

I'm not blaming anybody. The kid, who is now an adult, doesn't have the right to be here. As such she needs to GTFO.

At what point do we let kids who are brought here illegally stay? After being here 10 years, 2 years, 6 months???

Does it suck for the kid? Yep, but that's not my problem and nor should it be. Perhaps if there wasn't some F'ing news story that had the same exact details as this one does every week I'd feel a bit more but all I see now is some kid who is gonna get screwed because her parents thought it was appropriate to enter in to this country illegally.

I'm all for immigration, just not the illegal kind and while yes it does suck for the kid that's a choice her parents made some time ago.

The fact that this kid is a valedictorian shouldn't have any bearing on the matter either. What, we'll make an exception for the smart kid but not someone with average grades??? Seems pretty F'ed up to me if you guys are suggesting that. Why should the less intelligent kid get screwed while the more intelligent one doesn't?

This kid needs to get deported and go through the appropriate channels to immigrate back to the US.

Think about it another way. Why should Bernie Maddoff's kids lose their inheritance? I mean they didn't have anything to do with the crimes committed by their father so shouldn't they have the right to keep all the $$ he made and live a cushy life??? F no, for better or worse kids are directly impacted by their parents choice. It may suck but again it's their parents fault. I for one like accountability like that!

Quote from skiman : These responses all seem terribly shortsighted, looking to a model of intergenerational retributive justice. Setting aside the fact that she, herself, hasn't actually done anything wrong, isn't this attitude more about spite than self interest? After all "we" have already invested in her education and helped to turn out what appears to be a promising and well adjusted person. Shouldn't we also reap the benefit of that investment rather than shipping it off to some other country?

It's not shortsighted at all. If we set a precedent of letting illegals come here and letting their kids stay here, who will subsequently more than likely get their parents here, doesn't that seem like it'd cause somewhat of a problem? We may have already invested in her education but still a hard rule needs to be set to deport her (and others) to relay the message that it's not acceptable. Let her apply for a student visa to come back and get a college education (at the out of state tuition rate), and then if she wants go for a green card, and then citizenship. If she goes that route I have NO problem with it. I'd actually sincerely respect them if they did that.

I know a ton of people who have immigrated to this country the long, hard, and expensive way and granting citizenship in these cases is just a slap in the face to them. Amnesty was given once to illegals and all that has done is result in another 12M illegals in the country who are leeching off society. It's not a spite thing but rather a fiscal thing. Myself, and my (hypothetical) kids have less afforded to them because of people who are here illegally because of all the $$ spent on the illegals. If they weren't here you better believe more would be available for the actual citizens and legal residents of this country.

Quote from LivninSC : I'm not blaming anybody. The kid, who is now an adult, doesn't have the right to be here. As such she needs to GTFO.

Wrong. She needs to STFH. People who think otherwise should GTFO to make more room for real Americans like her.

It's stupid to deport kids who've lived here since age 5 or 6. It's essentially deporting them to countries foreign to them.

Quote from larrymoencurly : Wrong. She needs to STFH. People who think otherwise should GTFO to make more room for real Americans like her. It's stupid to deport kids who've lived here since age 5 or 6. It's essentially deporting them to countries foreign to them.

so? your point?
they don't belong here.
blame her parents for making the bad decision.

noone forced them to come illegally, nor did anyone force them to stay in the country

Quote from larrymoencurly : You shouldn't have had to wait, and one bad immigration policy is no reason to perpetuate another bad immigration policy.

im not arguing the bad immigration policy, im saying what makes her special to circumvent the immigration process?

Quote from larrymoencurly : Wrong. She needs to STFH. People who think otherwise should GTFO to make more room for real Americans like her. It's stupid to deport kids who've lived here since age 5 or 6. It's essentially deporting them to countries foreign to them.

You're right. Let's boot all the citizens of this country and let all the illegals stay here! Murderers, rapists, pedophiles, farm workers, intelligent, stupid, it doesn't matter!

I mean, it's gonna happen sooner or later, may as well just get it over with. Aztlan FTW! And hey, when this all happens 2/3 of North America will be a 3rd world country as opposed to just 1/3 of it!

And just for argument sake what happens if this kid is allowed to stay in the country? What, are they gonna protest the deportation of her parents because leaving her here all alone would be too cruel. What you're suggesting isn't a slippery slope but a F'ing sheer dropoff!

Quote from IPT : im saying what makes her special to circumvent the immigration process?

She's hispanic.

Welcome to America

Quote from LivninSC : It's not shortsighted at all. If we set a precedent of letting illegals come here and letting their kids stay here, who will subsequently more than likely get their parents here, doesn't that seem like it'd cause somewhat of a problem? We may have already invested in her education but still a hard rule needs to be set to deport her (and others) to relay the message that it's not acceptable. Let her apply for a student visa to come back and get a college education (at the out of state tuition rate), and then if she wants go for a green card, and then citizenship. If she goes that route I have NO problem with it. I'd actually sincerely respect them if they did that.

For this to make sense one would have to believe that illegals sneak into the country with the expectation that they or their children may be allowed to stay by virtue of exceptional participation or contribution. That is not the policy now, yet still they come and still some manage to excel.

I don't believe this is the case. I believe they come here to find as much "better life" as they can for as long as they can.

Surely some aren't great or highly desirable Americans, but if we happen to stumble upon one, I don't see a problem keeping him or her.

Or, to put it another way, people will continue to come here regardless of what happens in these exceptional cases. However, if we decide to retain valuable assets which are discovered, it can only serve as an inventive toward excellence for people who are coming here anyway.

Imagine that a municipality discovers that a man is avoiding security and sneaking into a local park some nights to clean and care for the grounds. He has been doing this for 10 years, but has finally been caught. Yes, that person is breaking the law in doing so, but he or she is also making the park a better place. The letter of the law might have that person jailed. The cost of this is twofold: the cost of prosecution and punishment is only compounded by the loss of value to the park. Would it be wrong to simply choose not to prosecute?

To think about this, I think we need to first ask why the the law is as it is. Why is the park closed and secured? Is it an attempt to keep people from doing harm to the park, or to keep people from doing good for the park?

Alternatively, imagine the law against assault. If a stranger approaches you and breaks three of your ribs, he should be jailed for assault yes? The law is there to deter the stranger from harming you. But if in this instance, you were unconscious, unresponsive, and without a pulse, the stranger who cracked your ribs while performing CPR, might be thanked rather than jailed. This isn't an analogy, just another exploration of how the same action with different outcomes might reasonably be treated differently.

Now consider the reason for border control. Do we want to control immigration to keep valuable people out of the country, or is it to keep undesirable people out of the country?

If we discover a desirable person finds herself in this country- through no fault of her own- mightn't it be reasonable to not prosecute this person and allow her to continue to add value?

Quote from LivninSC : I know a ton of people who have immigrated to this country the long, hard, and expensive way and granting citizenship in these cases is just a slap in the face to them. Amnesty was given once to illegals and all that has done is result in another 12M illegals in the country who are leeching off society. It's not a spite thing but rather a fiscal thing. Myself, and my (hypothetical) kids have less afforded to them because of people who are here illegally because of all the $$ spent on the illegals. If they weren't here you better believe more would be available for the actual citizens and legal residents of this country.

It sure doesn't sound like a fiscal decision. Good brains add value to a society. There is no good reason to be shipping good brains out of the country. I don't really care where the good brains were born, retaining and exploiting those assets doesn't do anything but good for me. A girl like this should become a net positive, helping you and I to build success, which in turn helps to offset the neutrals and negatives- both native born and foreign born.

FWIW, it's certainly questionable whether, under the current system, illegals represent a net positive or a net negative. I think that population probably "takes" as much from you as they "give," but that's not really at issue here. The question is why, when a likely net positive is discovered, why should we not reap the reward?