<p>I have a good deal of sympathy for folks who struggled in their home nations and trekked to America, albeit illegally, to try to build a happier life and to participate and integrate and be Americans, in the full and best sense of the word. Yet, I am especially moved by opinions from people like Scholarme; folks who endured the frustrating mess of U.S. immigration law and earned legal status only after much difficulty, and often much expense. No one has ever given me a satisfactory answer to the question of ‘if amnesty comes, what do we do/tell the people who have honestly waited in line for years?’ I hope the answer isn’t ‘Sorry, suckers!’</p>
<p>The numbers of illegal immigrants who will ever be college material is so small as to be irrelevant. Having worked with them for decades, I would dance in the streets if any of my students were ever able to truly read fluently at an adult level. It almost never happens. There are lots of things to be outraged by in this particular topic, but this isn’t one of them. This is the red herring that prevents you from looking at all the other things that are really awful, deeply entrenched and staggeringly common.</p>
<p>First off, i’m feeling a bit grumpy today and have been looking for something to get riled up about. So thank you for posting this letter.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>That said, do you truly think your 'too white, too mid-western, too average" kid wouldn’t have gotten into Harvard because the son of illegal immigrants did have the goods? A false straw man is being created here. </p>
<p>(and if your kid wants to apply to Harvard, apply. It’ll make him feel better if at least he tries…better than feeling a sense of false bitterness that it never would have worked because of outside forces) </p>
<p>And yet still there are complaints from the illegals at Harvard. <a href=“The Harvard Crimson”>The Harvard Crimson;
<p>scholarme, many US citizens feel angry that there are people such as yourself who went through the proper channels to become a citizen, and then others ignore the laws and now expect to be granted front-of-the line access to citizenship. </p>
<p>I am also appalled that minors can fly on airplanes without much checking. With the threat from the Khorasan Group, these rules should be tightened.</p>
<p>The article author’s website for illegal high schoolers re college states “Colleges, Scholarships, Grants, Loans, Litigation, everything you need to combat the forces of ignorance.” How arrogant. “Forces of ignorance”?</p>
<p>The Harvard admins who granted this scholarship should have to explain to the poor or middle class Americans who didn’t get scholarships why an illegal immigrant was given preference over them: the kids from poor, rural towns; the kids from the inner city, the kids whose parents lost their jobs recently. These kids parents and grandparents have paid their taxes, worked for this country for generations, served in our military and then are given the back of the hand by elite institutions. </p>
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<p>Oh great, another “hook” against which my kids cannot compete…</p>
<p>I think I read a poll on investor’s daily that the 60% of the polls was against immigration now. Can’t remember it was illegal or not.</p>
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<p>I don’t think this is true, especially in states like CA, where there are probably thousands of illegal Asian immigrants very qualified for college admission, all of whom can attend all public CA colleges.</p>
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<p>My impression is that Harvard thinks it is above the law, or better than the law. It sees itself as provider of the highest quality education to anyone in the universe that it deems worthy, silly jingoistic laws be damned.</p>
<p>It serves Harvard’s political agenda to have a poster child for the Dream Act. </p>
<p>And yes, Bay, the UCSF illegal alien medical student is Asian, and is getting lots of scholarship money also. Medical students who are American citizens have to take on hundreds of thousands in debt. The illegal alien doesn’t. :-L </p>
<p>Here’s what I don’t understand. If a kid is poor and his parent steals a large sum of money, the parent goes to jail. Why don’t we let the kid keep the money? After all, it’s not his fault. To me, this is the argument of all of you supporting illegal immigrant.</p>
<p>Even more applicable…someone breaks into your home and puts their children to sleep in your children’s bedrooms. When the police come they don’t say 'Well, we’ll take the parent to jail, but we’re leaving the kids - you’ll need to support them now".</p>
<p>That aside, it’s Harvard’s money. If they want to reward a criminal act I guess they can.</p>
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Excellent point, Bay. That’s not the case here, but you are completely correct.</p>
<p>In my area, people should be a lot more concerned about illegal immigrants who will never be able to be financially independent and whose families won’t be literate and assimilated for generations. That is a very expensive thing to deal with.</p>
<p>I am sure both Harvard and UCSF did not accept these kids based on their immigration status. Neither schools owe me an explanation if they did not accept my kids. These schools are looking to build a class with as much diversity as they see fit.</p>
<p>To think that our kids can be classmates to some of these kids and learn much from them while some of us on this forum are so toxic toward these individuals is mind boggling.</p>
<p>I was unaware that a government ID was not required for those under 18 when travelling domestically.</p>
<p>I have nothing but love for these undocumented kids who are getting these opportunities to better themselves, their communities and the US, even when my own kids do not get the financial boost that these kids receive.</p>
<p>I googled the UCSF reference made upthread and found the below article, which reminded me of a segment I saw on TV a few years ago. Kudos to these individuals doing so well against all odds.</p>
<p><a href=“http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2014/09/08/ucsfs-first-undocumented-medical-student-begins-training/”>http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2014/09/08/ucsfs-first-undocumented-medical-student-begins-training/</a></p>
<p><a href=“Illegal Immigrant Becomes World-Renowned Brain Surgeon”>http://www.wbaltv.com/Illegal-Immigrant-Becomes-World-Renowned-Brain-Surgeon/8961846</a></p>
<p>My sympathy is for poor American kids who are not getting lucrative scholarships and who cannot afford elite colleges or who are going into debt to go to college at all. Getting ahead by breaking the law is a bad precedent to set.</p>
<p>I don’t have the impression that Harvard is rejecting qualified poor American citizens. It seems to me the highly qualified poor kids are fought over by top colleges, and money is thrown at them. But there aren’t that many poor kids applying to top schools, for a lot of reasons.</p>
<p>The students aren’t breaking the law. Their parents broke the law.</p>
<p>And when I said “sour grapes,” I was referring to the original post in this thread:</p>
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<p>What do you know about the qualifications of the student in the story? Why do you assume he got in because of his back story and that your son would not have been admitted? Your son didn’t even apply!</p>
<p>I believe most Elite Colleges are Need Blind and if so, are the most coveted schools for poor American Kids who have the credentials to be accepted. Getting lucrative outside scholarships would negate that Financial Aid.</p>
<p>From a Graduate school perpsective, loans are aviailable for the poor, just as it is for the middle class. Kid at UCSF Med school would not have been eligible for Federal loans, hence lucrative scholarships were offered. </p>
<p>Would my kids get those scholarships? No, am I bitter absolutely not, especially when this is about EDUCATION and kid is filling such a gap. </p>
<p>Ultimately, UCSF identified that this kid was qualified for thier program and his status was not what constituted his acceptance.</p>
<p>Going back to the original article, kudos to Harvard.</p>
<p>There is no shortage of qualified applicants for medical school. Every year nearly half of those who apply are rejected. There is no need to fill those spots with illegal immigrants. </p>
<p>One of the original starter for the Dream Act was Asian. She came over here and her family stayed illegal.</p>