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Perhaps you should push your liberal agenda on others. We don't all share your democrat beliefs. Some of us think US citizens should be given priority over this guy Balderas. I am not disputing that he is smart enough to get into Harvard but also know that given his background there is a sliding scale for his admission and scholarships. I used to work with a Puerto Rican girl from logan square in Chicago who got 24 on ACT and got into Harvard with full ride. She wasn't dumb but definitely not one of the brighter people I have worked with in commercial banking here in Chicago.
Affirmative Action is probably a big part of why this Balderas guy got into Harvard in the first place.
He took the place was that would have been reserved for some other poor minority, albeit one with papers.
That's funny that you think that using affirmative action to allow a disadvantaged minority member shouldn't play a part in allowing someone to get into Harvard but citizenship status should? Where's the merit in being born in a particular country and being born in another one. You fail.
Plus, Harvard is a private institution. And it has maintained prestige and it's students have remained the brightest in the world, despite decades of affirmative action. Despite your misgivings, it must be doing something right.
He has papers!~ He has student visa and is legally in USA, what part did you guys don't understand?!!!
No, he does not. Or at least he did not at the time of his detention. He was released pending his court date as are most detained illegals who do not have criminal records or warrants.
Our immigration system generally does not allow one to 'right' an immigration wrong while still in-country.
Actually, it does. It's called I-485 Adjustment of Status. Whether his situation qualifies I do not know. If not, so he leaves for awhile and applies at a consulate.
This whole story is a manufactured setup anyway. I don't think the student lost his Mexican passport, he deliberately tried to get detained to generate a political test case. He was politically active in lobbying for the DREAM Act and I wouldn't be surprised if his Harvard scholarship was contingent "off the record" of his assistance in furthering their political lobbying. More info from the original story.
In March, Balderas was one of hundreds of undocumented students to publicly announce his immigration status during a nationally organized "coming out" day for illegal immigrants.
Balderas also has been an active member of student immigrant groups around Boston that have staged protests and sit-ins in an effort to get Sen. Scott Brown, R-Massachusetts, to support the DREAM Act.
In April, Lugar and Durbin sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, asking her to halt deportations of immigrant students who could earn legal status under the act.
If this is the Mexico forum then why is the OP presented as "immigration reform is badly needed" ?
In Mexico?
Primarily because current immigration policies in the USA have caused problems on both sides of the border and are affecting Mexico's relationship with an important 'neighbor'. That the prompt and fair resolution of this issue would improve the relationship between these two countries is crystal clear. Recent incidents of violence at the border crossing make this resolution even more imperative. The kind of hatred and anger this situation has engendered does not bode well for either country.
Even more outrageous is Arizona's latest attempt to draft legislation denying citizenship to children born in the US from parents who are here illegally, this in direct violation of the US Constitution. My point being that when a state decides to try and override their country's own constition to prevent newborn [read Latino] babies from being granted citizenship, there is more afoot than just politics as usual.
That's funny that you think that using affirmative action to allow a disadvantaged minority member shouldn't play a part in allowing someone to get into Harvard but citizenship status should? Where's the merit in being born in a particular country and being born in another one. You fail.
Plus, Harvard is a private institution. And it has maintained prestige and it's students have remained the brightest in the world, despite decades of affirmative action. Despite your misgivings, it must be doing something right.
And what's interesting is that affirmative action has not allowed the vast numbers of minority students to gain entrance to quality colleges, as some might think. In fact there is concern that the more wealthy take much higher precedence. This, from an article in the Harvard Gazette, per a panel discussion:
"Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, challenged the panel to think about ways in which affirmative action does not go far enough. "I think you need to consider both race and class. In many ways, affirmative action is too weak to truly diversify Harvard or any other institution that has such an imbedded preference for wealth in its admissions practices," she said.
She cited a recently released study that found that 74 percent of students at the nation's 146 most selective colleges came from families in the top 25 percent income bracket, while only 3 percent of students at those schools came from the bottom quartile." The link - http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/...11-action.html
In any event, all these unrelated issues aside, IF some of the new proposed immigration laws - or changes in them were passed, I think we would see a lessening of antipathy between the two countries. So why hasn't this happened? I believe it has to do with powerful forces that wish to maintain the status quo of undocumented, cheap labor - AND money flowing into Mexico because it BENEFITS them on both sides of the border! That, I truly believe is the bottom line.
Sarah, I concur. Our country is duplicitous in its handling of illegal immigration. We slap them with one hand while paying them under the table with the other hand. Shame on us, not them! We have a perfect "it takes two to tango" scenario. If only our citizens so enraged by illegal immigration would stop dining in restaurants, stop staying in hotels, stop having car repairs, stop having their houses cleaned and yards maintained, stop buying meat, fruit, and vegetables, stop living in newly-constructed homes, and stop buying U.S.-made clothes... then we might not send a forked-tongue message to our helpful illegals. Of course, our cost of goods and services would rise, but I know none here would mind paying higher prices despite our crippled economy. To see the face of those who support illegal immigration, one needs look no further than his/her local mirror.
Sarah, I concur. Our country is duplicitous in its handling of illegal immigration. We slap them with one hand while paying them under the table with the other hand. Shame on us, not them! We have a perfect "it takes two to tango" scenario. If only our citizens so enraged by illegal immigration would stop dining in restaurants, stop staying in hotels, stop having car repairs, stop having their houses cleaned and yards maintained, stop buying meat, fruit, and vegetables, stop living in newly-constructed homes, and stop buying U.S.-made clothes... then we might not send a forked-tongue message to our helpful illegals. Of course, our cost of goods and services would rise, but I know none here would mind paying higher prices despite our crippled economy. To see the face of those who support illegal immigration, one needs look no further than his/her local mirror.
I hope folks are paying attention because what you've just said is absolutely correct. Have to repeat it again because it is so right on.....
"We slap them with one hand while paying them under the table with the other hand. Shame on us, not them! We have a perfect "it takes two to tango" scenario."
It IS a 'duplitious" policy and only adds fuel to the fires raging throughout the border states. Until those most radically protesting folks recognize what's REALLY going on in the halls of Congress (and their associations with Lobbyists), immigration reform and the fury it generates will be with us for a long time. So, folks, put the blame where it should ly - on your elected officials, not those poorly paid immigrants who are underrepresented scapegoats for the BIG guys who want to hang on to their profits.
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