“Jose Antonio Vargas was 12 years old when his mother sent him from the Philippines to live with his grandparents in Mountain View. At the age of 16, he discovered he was an undocumented immigrant. Vargas graduated from Mountain View High School and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. He kept his immigration status secret for years.” Now he is in limbo. Mr. Vargas tells his story eloquently. To paraphrase what he says in another interview, “Mitt Romney says I should go back – but where do I go back to? Similarly, in recent news, the valedictorian of North Miami High School has been ordered removed by an immigration judge.
These are two outstanding people that the U.S. cannot afford to lose. The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors), a “bipartisan bill that would provide undocumented youths who came to the United States before the age of sixteen a path toward legalization on the condition that they attend college or serve in the U.S. military for a minimum of two years while maintaining good moral character,” should not be stalled any longer. As previously mentioned, a UCLA study on the DREAM Act shows that, if passed, “the 2.1 million undocumented immigrants would become legalized and generate approximately $3.6 trillion over the same 40-year period (in current dollars). The U.S. would retain outstanding and “indefatigable” people like Jose and Daniela, families would not be broken apart, and people would not be “sent back” to a land they do not know.
Update – Daniela, the Miami area valedictorian, has been granted a two-year deportation reprieve.