Illegal immigrant runs for student body president at Texas A&M

simple question- how do you know Zelaya didn't have to jump though hoops to get accepted into A&M?

 

Agree. He may be a smart kid but that was an ignorant thing to say.

 

That isn't true. Like anything else here in the States, if you have the wealth, it isn't hard. If you don't have the wealth, you have to try much much harder.

There are programs to get work visa's. Blue collared work visas are temporary. White collared programs can be long term. The best and brightest have no problem coming in legally. Its the poor and dependent who have the trouble.

 

The best and brightest are sometimes poor and dependent.

 

Literally anyone can get a visa to get into this country. I mean look at the grad students of lamar university of University of Louisiana Monroe.

 

I didn't mean academic merit-wise. My sister was a top 10% student with very high SAT scores. I meant she had to go through so many steps and tons of paperwork to become an international student. Hard to imagine an undocumented student getting in after all the crap they made my perfectly legal sister do. Of course, this was like ten years ago so maybe it's different now.

 

If elected, it will create a rip in the space-time continuum.

 

From what I have heard, I'm pretty sure that undocumented students apply to A&M and other schools as international students. They have to go through all the same hoops that any other international students go through. While the hurdles are the same, sometimes it is harder for them to prove and produce all needed info because of their unique position. To compound their problems, I heard that this past year one of the A&M international student advisor was giving faulty immigration advice to undocumented students putting them in danger of getting barred from the United States. So, they likely have to tread extra carefully compared to most international students.

These undocumented students have to go through so much more than regular students to succeed. They have to worry about class just like any other student, but most know that they are studying to work in a field that likely will not have a place for them due to their status all the while knowing they can be removed from the US for just one slip-up. They can even be placed in removal proceedings after being stopped for having a bad tail light. Many choose to forgo driving due to the dangers it presents. I also imagine that most undocumented students typically study harder, because one MIP or PI and they are literally done for.

I'm pretty sure it has already come through the D&D, but writer Jose Antonio Vargas produced a very good piece for the NYT about the trials and tribulations of undocumented students called My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

 

At this point . . . I am wondering
If everyone knows he is here illegally . . .
Why is he not arrested and deported?

Does having a college degree make him immune?
Is he considered now a 'better class' of illegal than those 'picking produce'?

Or
is it the Roman Polanski rule. .. . because he talented we let him slide

I guess . . . I'm confused as to how . . someone admits to breaking the law
yet not law enforcement is pursuing him. . . .

Rocket River

 

Is that surprising for him to get admitted into A &M? The application just assumes applicant is a citizen if not claimed to be a foreign student. They dont check your passport birth certificate in the application process. Moreover the kid attended elementary school and high school here, they just dont question a kid'S citizenship like that.

 

In a draconian society, laws are meant to be enforced like black and white rules. Nazis had laws and enforced them to the letter.
In a society of higher morality, at least cliamed that way, maybe laws shouldnt be enforced so black and white, especially when laws can not be squaredly justified on the ground that they make the society better.

 

There are a variety of reasons. It would look bad politically for any president to deport someone who is out and being vocal in supporting an act designed to provide an avenue to status for certain undocumented immigrants. Such a move would have a chilling effect on free speech in this country. Secondly, because out immigration system makes no sense and because it is backlogged, DHS has specifically created a hierarchy of what it wants to do with its limited resources. The focus is on deporting criminal aliens and leeway will be given to those who have committed no crime, do not appear to be a danger, and who are seeking education. If you want to read some DHS policy and read for yourself why DHS does what it does, check the Morton Memo on Prosecutorial Discretion released by ICE this past summer. And finally even without the memo, simply being an "illegal immigrant" is not and should not be a priority. It's sort of like speeding, if everyone is doing it, we give some leeway. We'd much rather DHS spend its time doing something useful like keeping us safe.

 

Well, this is a bit weak. It wont take much effort to deport this kid now we know he is undocumented.
For me, there is just no good reason to deport the kid, besides it feels awful to deport him. Nobody is going to be deterred to cross the border without a document. The kid is bright enough to make it all the way in the education system and even running for a student union post. He is probably going to do something good for this country. After all, many of our ancestors came to this country without being really invited but for the pursuit of a better life.
That said, I am not saying there should not be any immigration measures, but rather a case like this warrants leniency.

 

Sure the resources argument is a bit weak, but it's not meant to carry the day. It's just one of many reasons why the government will not be deporting him unless he gets picked up. It will indeed take resources to deport him. He will have to be picked up and get served with a Notice to Appear, then be housed for a bit before he is released on bond, if bond is set to high then the government has to provide for a bond-redetermination hearing, then, presuming he gets bonded out, he will be scheduled for a hearing in 2014 or something (since they are scheduling stupidly far out for non-detained people at the moment), then they have to have a hearing where they have to have one of their attorneys, and then they might have to fight it on appeal. It's not an insubstantial amount of work and resources to deport someone unless they are in expedited removal.

There are basically 3 ways to land yourself into removal (deportation) proceedings in this country. 1) Be detained and then get put into the system and, get a detainer put on you by ICE (most likely); 2) Be picked up in a work-place raid (not very likely); be reported anonymously and have ICE show up to pick you up (also not very likely, because ICE would look at him and shrug their shoulders since he hasn't committed any crimes, but also because ICE simply doesn't have the resources to bother). This guy, so long as he keeps himself out of trouble and is never taken in after a routine traffic stop, will likely never be put in removal proceedings.

Sure, that's what the Morton Memo talks about - Prosecutorial Discretion, which is basically leniency. If the guy gets picked up for some stupid reason and served with a notice to appear, an attorney would likely bring up the prosecutorial discretion if there were no options to adjust or any defense to removal. Whether they would get it is still relatively unexplored.

 

our school scares me sometimes. Whenever the preacher from the christianity club or texas aggie conservatives come out they spew some extremely controversial stuff. This one dude was so anti gay he started talking about anal sex and some other things really explicitely.

 

I think the response by the opposing candidate is very worthy of respect.

As to the guy, I am just wondering

1) how he got enrolled - I studied in the USA as a foreigner, and I know I had to get a visa for that, and I think UH checked my visa status (much of the formalities were handled for me by the Fulbright commission, so I don't remember it very well)
2) how he wouldn't have to be in constant fear of deportation - he is an illegal alien, a visible one, why wouldn't the authorities just put him on a plane and send him back to his country of origin? (Not that I would advocate for this to happen, but legally, isn't that what would be supposed to happen?)

 

The law in Texas is unauthorized immigrants can go to Texas colleges. They pay in state tuition IIRC.. Texas is one of several states that allows this. His legal status doesn't matter. One of the more progressive things about Texas. I used to know the lawyer who won the case. I certainly support it as we don't want 50% of future TX adults to be uneducated.

 

Did I read Roman Polanski's name in this thread? Or did I dream that?

 

I understand.
1. Not deporting him for political reasons is just weak sauce. Basically if I make a big enough deal of myself [aka get enough publicity] I become too big to prosecute ["You have a great name. . . he will have to kill your name before he kills you." - black guy in Gladiator]
2. I don't think heirarchy of immigrants always gives me pause. Too much corruption/discrimination can get into the system
3. If I have a warrent . . . . even if I am stopped to inform me of a broken taillight. . . I will probably still be ran into the jail. Its an arrest of opportunity. Seen it happen all the time. Seems about the same amount of effort here.

I am not trying to run the dude out of the country
but
I am always uneasy when one person is allow to flaunt illegality
and someone else is being busted for even the most minor of things.

People are in jail for tickets are non-impact from 10 yrs ago
"I'm in jail because I had a warrent from a stop sign ticket I ran at 4 in the morning on a monday and I was the only car on the street." <-- this is priority?

Rocket River