<p>The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported yesterday about the plight of Jessica Colotl, a senior at Kennesaw State University, an honor student and campus leader who turns out to be an illegal alien.</p>
<p>Her parents immigrated [without documentation] to Georgia from Mexico when Jessica was young. Recently Jessica was pulled over by a campus police officer for a traffic violation. She had had no GA license but reportedly produced an expired Mexican license. The officer arrested her and she was turned over to ICE.</p>
<p>This woman is reportedly a very popular and successful student. ICE has agreed to defer proceedings against her for one year to allow her to graduate. Which I’d like to believe is fair. Now her case has become a sensational issue in the Georgia governor’s election. Apparentlly she paid Georgia resident tuition all these years and that has left one of the candidates quite angry. Of course he’s annoyed that she and her family have been in the U.S. illegally all this time. This isn’t news. Stories such as this, about the child of illegal immigrants stuck in the middle, happens again and again. She’s not the first superlative student to get caught in such a situation. What’s fair and just? I imagine the fair thing is to follow the law as it stands, but is that just?</p>
<p>There was an interesting story in the NYT several months ago about Harold Fernandez, a kid in similar circumstances–came to the US as a child, with parents from Colombia who were fleeing political violence there, grew up in poverty, but was a brilliant student and got a scholarship to Princeton. This was in the 1980s. When the truth came to light, Princeton helped him and his family get naturalized. The kid went on to medical school and now is a well-respected cardiac surgeon in NYC. Of course this was several decades ago when the politics of immigration were not as fraught as they are now.</p>
<p>A international student (one who is a citizen of another country) attended an American university and did not have to pay out of state tuition?</p>
<p>Income taxes pay for funding the colleges. It’s doubtful that the parents paid anything in income taxes over the years.</p>
<p>I can honestly say what is fair and just is that illegal immigrants are required to pay out of state tuition. This is the law in Arizona and I think it is fair and just.</p>
<p>jingle, I seem to recall that Senator Durbin of Illinois was trying to help two Boston area brothers with a similar story a couple of years ago; parents had illegally immigrated years ago from Colombia. Brothers grew up with great grades and character. They would have benefited from Durbin’s ‘Dream Act.’ But as we know it never passed Congress.</p>
<p>Jessica may be popular and wonderful but she had to know that she should not have been driving without a valid driver’s license. Alas, that adds to the aura that she and her family are no respecters of law. </p>
<p>Illegal status is complex. One family coming here can be persecuted, another playing the system and yet another simply looking for a better life. Add in offspring, employers who look the other way, immigration lawyers who are shysters and confusing and scary immigration rules and you get a very large mess. </p>
<p>As much as it pains me to say so, George Bush was right in saying that we need a guest worker program that works and a path to citizenship for the 11 million people who are here illegally. </p>
<p>Jessica’s arrest may actually help the needed reform happen because she will be a “real” person to her friends and campus. But, meanwhile, she may get her life ground to bits. </p>
<p>We have an even weirder one here in Washington State. A woman, married, with two kids, got arrested on a minor burglary charge (she took something from a friend’s purse). Turns out she was brought her as an infant (which she knew) but her American parents had been told they didn’t need to file any particular papers because the adoption had been formalized in Mexico (wrong advice, it turns out). So, the 30 something, English only mom is sitting in a detention center waiting for all this to play out. </p>
<p>There is not one solution to all of this. There are many, many mini-steps that need to be taken.</p>
<p>I imagine there are some sad stories out there of hard-working college students whose parents obeyed the laws of this country, yet those stories won’t create much interest because they don’t fit the current political narrative. What’s fair is that everyone be treated equally before the law – including those who break the law.</p>
<p>If Jessica has been in the U.S. since she was young, how did she get a Mexican driver’s license? Why didn’t she get a U.S. driver’s license? I don’t know what state she lives in, but not many require proof of citizenship for a driver’s license.</p>
<p>So I’m going to assume that her parents are not legal either and have not been paying income taxes or property taxes. So she’s attending college and paying in state tuition. </p>
<p>It is a very sad story, but what if she WASN’T an honor student? Would we still feel so sorry for her? I believe laws should be followed. Seems that the family picked which rules they wanted to follow and which they would disregard. </p>
<p>Before anybody labels me racist because of my opinion, let me clarify that I am hispanic. My family came to this country legally 50 years ago. I think people should do what they are supposed to do and then reap the benefits.</p>
<p>*Jessica may be popular and wonderful but she had to know that she should not have been driving without a valid driver’s license. *</p>
<p>Since she didn’t have a state license, does that mean she was also an uninsured driver? If so, imagine how you would have felt if she had ran into your car?</p>
<p>So, dear Jessica is another perfect example: she’s a criminal (even Honor students know they must have drivers licenses to operate the vehicle), and we are not doubt paying her tuition at the state supported college. </p>
<p>Her parents may have been paying state (and federal) taxes. It’s possible they had fake SSN’s so they could get work more easily. Then again, if they were paid cash only, they probably paid no taxes.</p>
<p>Until recently, Maryland (where I live) would give driver’s licenses to undocumented people. A good idea, since then you increase the % of licensed and insured drivers. But since no neighboring states did so, MD became a magnet for undocumented immigrants to get what appeared to be legitimate ID. The policy has ended but it’s too soon to know how many more unlicensed and uninsured drivers may be out there. </p>
<p>I believe MD still grants instate tuition to non-citizens who can prove their residency. There are many shades of gray with lack of documentation - calling someone “illegal” wouldn’t be appropriate if, for example, they’re waiting for a refugee status hearing (and they can wait and wait for years). In those cases, they’re probably working and paying taxes, just not as a US citizen.</p>
That’s what’s fishy about this story. How young is "young?'</p>
<p>I have a sliding scale of sympathy for cases like this. My greatest sympathy is for the occasional case where the person doesn’t even know he’s an illegal alien. I have somewhat less for somebody who knows he’s illegal, but who has been here since infancy and has otherwise played by the rules (quite a few illegals and people without green cards who work pay taxes–IRS takes their money without turning them in to Immigration). I have even less for people who skirt the law in more ways. I have some sympathy for anybody who comes here to work and make a better life, even if they came illegally. They may be “criminals,” but they are not the same kind of criminals as bank robbers. The problem cries out for a solution, but I fear it’s too politically toxic for a reasonable solution to be worked out.</p>
<p>ok
to begin with…
so WHY is the student DRIVING without a legal license…</p>
<p>and without a legal license–I will bet she is NOT insured…</p>
<p>and WHY has she been in the system and subsidized all of this time without legal status?</p>
<p>To be in school in our state, you have to provide a copy of the birth certificate, copy of immunizations, a copy of a parent’s drivers license stating the legal address, social security card etc etc…</p>
<p>Kind of makes the title “honor” student an oxymoron doesn’t it…</p>
<p>As I teach my kids–integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking.</p>
<p>The article said she came to the US when she was 10, 11 years ago. She started school in 2006, before the law requiring out-of-state tuition for undocumented students took effect, so was grandfathered at the in-state rate. Her passport was from Mexico, but expired in 2007.</p>
<p>So how does she stay in schoool with an expired passport–for years???</p>
<p>The schools have paperwork that is completed yearly.</p>
<p>Our student attends a private hs -and the boarders that are international all have regular paperwork–all of which will be updated so they can stay each year and the soon to be graduates have to complete paperwork so they can attend US universities.</p>
<p>sooo many ways this should not have been happening…</p>