Last Updated on August 27, 2017
The headline in the top story in today’s Post and Courier reads, “Colleges ban illegal immigrants.”  The subhead reads, “Opponents: Students shouldn’t be punished under law.”
What I find mind-boggling about this story is the idea that in this day and age, almost eight years since 9/11 and the resulting paranoia over illegal immigrants, that only now are schools saying no to students who are not in this country legally.
Where have the colleges been?  As hard as it is to get into some of them, how can illegals even have been accepted to begin with?  I’m pretty sure that I had to provide not only my social security number, which illegals don’t have, but a birth certificate to prove that I was a citizen when I went to college.  So what’s going on with illegals getting in to start with?  How does that work, exactly?  Have they just been filling in random social security numbers that no one ever checks on?
This particular story is told with the angle of a 20-year-old student with impressive grades who has been advised that she cannot re-enroll because of her status as an undocumented immigrant.
From the article:
“Supporters of the ban feel strongly that taxpayers’ money should not fund a school that is educating lawbreakers.  They also worry that illegal immigrants could take up spots in colleges that might otherwise go to legal residents.”
The easy way to prevent that, of course, is to make sure you’re filling all of the spots you have available with legal residents that you confirm are legal, then offering any remaining spots to anyone else who’ll pay up.
Then there’s this:
“Opponents said it’s unfair to punish children for their parents’ crimes.”
Punishing children unfairly is certainly a thought that would make most God-fearing, kid-loving people jump up to take action.  Trouble is, virtually anyone who is old enough to attend college is technically an adult, too, so if they’re continuing to stay in this country illegally, it’s no longer about their parents‘ crimes: it’s their crime, too.
I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic to students who are willing to work hard and who bring back grades far more impressive than some of the students who are citizens of this country and who just don’t seem to want to do much more than party, but at the same time, if opponents of this bill really want to lay some guilt trip on the rest of us, they should at least be honest and present the whole picture.
Sure, I feel bad for students who have worked hard only to find their future suddenly uncertain.
But if you’re smart enough to get straight As in college, you should be smart enough to realize that it’d be a really good idea to make sure you’re documentation is in order.
This same student says when people ask her why she doesn’t just get her proper papers, she says, “Show me the papers.  I will gladly sign them.”
With grades so high and a determination so strong, why can’t she find the papers on her own?  If she’s so committed to doing the right thing, it seems like she wouldn’t be wasting any time in getting it done.
