Harvard Sophomore Faces Deportation to Mexico

Source: Harvard Crimson

Harvard Sophomore Faces Deportation to Mexico
By Xi Yu, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Published: Friday, June 11, 2010

UPDATED 8:25 p.m.

Eric Balderas '13, a rising sophomore in Eliot House, was detained by immigration authorities on Monday and is facing deportation to Mexico, according to the Associated Press.

Activists and friends of the undocumented student said that Balderas was allegedly detained when he tried to use his Harvard identification to board a plane from his hometown of San Antonio, Tex. to Boston, the AP reported.

Balderas was released on Monday and is now awaiting an immigration hearing on July 6, according to his friend Mario Rodas, who created a Facebook page in light of Monday's events.

"Eric is a model stellar student and citizen at Harvard University," the page, titled Keep Eric Home, stated. "His deportation will deprive all of us of a potential citizen whose courage, commitment, and sincere desire to help others through science can only make our country a better place."


Read more: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/6/11/balderas-according-immigration-eric/

Can't have no illegals at Harvard!

:nopity:

No, you don't know that.

If not he's here Illegally. Just like with Harvard. You don't send in an application and start attending class. You have to wait for an acceptance letter. The same with Immigration. But I can't honestly say that people here legally have not been subjected to deportation hearings. I know someone who had to endure them frequently. But they are severely beating around the bush trying not to say he's here Illegally. Like saying he's a "citizens of Harvard." Sorry, not a country.

So, you have a friend here legally who still has to endure deportation hearings, and you still trust the system to get it right on a college kid? If you've been through or dealt with the system at all, you know just how amazingly broken and insanely awful it is.

There are many protections it provides. Not only keeping terrorists and criminals out. But diseases as well. It only takes one person to start an epidemic. God forbid. But if that ever happens and we have hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousand dying. If CDC traces it back to patient zero who turns out to be an illegal alien. All hell will break lose. But people will begin to take the immigration process more seriously. This kid is studying medicine so he of all people should understand that.

And your diatribe is relevant to this situation how?
The boy was here at the age of 4.
None of the situations you outlined are pertinent to this situation.

medical part.

I have no idea why you are harping on phantom epidemics in this guys case.
As I said, have him fill out the proper paperwork and move on.
He was here since the age of 4, he is as American as anyone.

to the United States in droves.

LOL

:crazy:

when repeatedly confronted with the actual data.

CNN kept him on and just let him keep on lying- just as ABC did for years with John Stossel- and of course, Fox "news" does ever day and night.

Leprosy is not a big problem in Mexico. India still has Leper Colonies. They are shunned and ostracized. In this day and age Leprosy is treatable. So it's really not the scourge it used to be.

the Conservative Citizens Council.

But I agree that if he gets things straight with INS. He should stay. I don't have a problem in the world with legal immigrants. But he's not American YET. According to the US Constitution (remember that?)He's not an American citizen unless he was born here or has been naturalized. He was born in Mexico and has ben naturalized. That makes him a citizen of Mexico. Now we used to bitch to the high heavens about Bush Violating the US Constitution. We even wanted to impeach him for it. So are YOU ready to join the Bush Hallelujah chorus and not let that "God damned piece of paper" tell you what to do?

I don't care when he came or how long he's been here. ALL illegal immigrants should be the last to receive citizenship, the legal immigrants and those that submitted their paperwork are in a holding pattern because the system is downloaded with too many illegal cases that it makes it harder for those that are trying to become a citizen legally.

It took a coworker 4 YEARS to get the ok to bring his wife back to the US after they filed the paperwork because SHE did not want to put any children they had in a situation if she was not her legally. Maybe his parents should have thought of this when they came to this country, too many people want to blame the US for enforcing our law and want to let those here illegally think they are above the law because they came to work or a better life. Hmm let's see if a person robs a bank because they are having hard times and want a better life, when they are caught they are not given a pat on the head then sent merrily on their way to their better life. No they are punished under the law for a crime they committed, as a citizen if I break any of our laws I am held accountable (so are accessory to crimes) punished under these laws but illegal immigrants feel they should get a free pass? He knew his status in this country, probably had a deportation scheduled prior to his recent arrest, this is not something new in his life because ICE would not just pull someone in this situation unless he was years in the system to be removed from the US but he thought going to Harvard would protect him.

of his own volition. So in terms of criminality. I can see him as a victim of his parents illegal immigration. But otherwise I agree. Legal immigrants go through hell and pay thousands upon thousands to become legal citizens. If you are going to reward people for subverting the system. Then you effectively destroy the system. The system no longer provides reward for those who submit to it. Only punishment. They have to jump through the hoops. The others get their citizenship by violating our laws and bitching about the enforcement of them until the government caves. That's not immigration it's conquest.

The system will not be destroyed by compassionate treatment of children/ young adults who grew up here. We need a reasonable system to cope with these issues. They let this guy into Harvard and now they want to send him back to a place where he has likely never lived?

C'mon.

This has nothing to do with bank robbers.

And you don't know why or how his parents decided to come here without papers. You also didn't read the article. He was asked for his ID trying to board a plane and that's how ICE got involved. It had nothing to do with being "years in the system".

This place sounds just like Free Republic sometimes. Unreal.

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please tell me what I "read in". Thanks.

I thought it was a reply to my post. I also have no problems with promptly admitting when I'm wrong. :blush: Sorry again.

before I start arguing immigration at DU. :hi:

:hi: :hangover:

I know the feeling! :)

:hi:

That each situation is different.
Most folks that are against this poor guy are conflating his case with their problems with immigration as a whole.
He is not a terrorist. He is not disease ridden. He is just some poor schmuck that was caught up in our expanding police state.
This guy has been here since he was 4. Where would he go in Mexico? Does he even speak Spanish?
Oh, that's right, you don't freakin' care because he is just some illegal, rather than a person.
Your random assertions about his status are pure speculation based on no facts whatsoever.

The law is not black and white. It never has been.
There are always exceptions, caveats, and special circumstances.
I can definitely live with this guy going on a fast track to naturalization.

It amazes me that DU has become more and more infested with bigots and hard line law and order types.

As to the medical part, I doubt anything he had that was latent for about 15 years is likely.

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. How many civilizations have damn near been wiped out by nothing more than friendly strangers showing up on their shores? The Immigration process helps to prevent that.

This person has been here essentially his entire life. If he was going to start an epidemic, he's late!

There are thousands of kids like this, in limbo. What on Earth do you think they should do?

The medical protection goes both ways. It protects us from their diseases. It also protects them from our disease. While the shot protect from most major diseases. It doesn't protect from all disease. I once got a stomach infection. They did blood tests and the doctor told me the germ that causes it is very rare in the US. But it is fairly common in Soviet block nations. My maid is a legal immigrant from Latvia. So it's not total protection. It's far better than no protection at all.

illegally, he would be deported immediately.

Mexico's immigration laws are among the strictest in the world, far stricter than in the US. Can you say "hypocrites?"

He's been here since he was four -- about a year or so after we passed NAFTA.

Fifteen years during which his parents were living here probably working for a substandard wage and paying into your tax system and Social Security fund. Can you say "hypocrites"?

You do realize, that 100 years ago, they did a lot less "protections" and all hell didn't break loose.

Because they are essentially a spy network. At the very least they fight like spy's. When there are another 3,066 Americans dead. THEN tell me how unimportant boarder control and immigration is. Until then you're floating a bluff that Al Qaida will call us on in a most horrible way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7GERh0sQzY">Also keep in mind that the middle east is strengthening their ties to central america.

Nicely done.

Whatever credibility you might have had just got flushed.

:hurts:

The threat still exists and it's very real. Immigration is a complex issue because there are a lot of legitimate concerns including National Security. To summarily dismiss that part of immigrations is nothing short of gross negligence. Al Qaida doesn't play with fear cards. They play with bombs.

:rofl:

Nothing particularly complex about the issue raised in the OP. The kid was brown, he used a Harvard ID to get on a plane- and that made him scary enough to raise a hue and cry from the terminally fearful. The same sort of frightened folks who scramble fighters to escort planes with Gilligan Island note writers and sick drunks in the bathrooms on them!

Hell, you fools are still taking your shoes off and getting toothpaste and water bottles confiscated!

So it's right back to reality.

I've always thought it odd that the most successful terrorist group in the world has never taken advantage of that border and the fact Middle Eastern men have similarly dark features like Mexicans. Personally it leads me to believe 9/11 was an inside job. The terrorists could have followed up quite easily had they wanted to yet they never did.

Tourists meet more people, touch more things, and travel more: they're far more likely to be patient zero in any epidemic, like SARS.

What is your problem with people here in the country who haven't gone through INS's maze o' horrors?

sheesh.

:thumbsup:

or green card. So I'm thinking he's not in the process at all. But you are right I don't know where he is in the process. But neither do you. Currently there is more evidence saying he's not the process at all that there is saying he's in the process.

when he failed to submit paperwork to gain entry to the US.

He is an example of why this question is far more complicated than you think it is. You have parents with American born children, who are American citizens, who may have been here for decades. In fact, this student could have a younger sibling who was born in the US. They may have worked those years in the US and never crossed a line that would have gotten them arrested. He may know no one in Mexico. These are the type of people who need a path to citizenship.

Are you 100% positive that your ancestors who entered the US all did so completely legally - having traveled to the US with completely legitimate travel documents from their country of birth? Do you know that their was at much animosity against the Irish, the Jews, Southern Europeans at the height of their immigration? Not to mention, the earliest European settlers were not only illegal immigrants, but hostile, aggressive ones to the "citizens" of the land.

He was certainly a high school student, and an excellent one, when he applied to Harvard. It may well be that his entire education was in the US and the culture he grew up in was the US's. He may have little connection to Mexico, beyond the fact that he was born there. His parents obviously came here illegally.

I also think he's intelligent enough to figure out how to correct that problem. If this kid had gone to INS and said My parents brought me here Illegally. But I'm an adult now and I want to become a citizen. If they were trying to Deport him because he was doing the right thing. I would sooooooo be on his side. With a flaming passion I would be on his side. The kid need to learn that there is a whole lot more to America than getting over on the system.

I haven't, but it may be that someone coming in like that would be likely to be deported. There is no current path to citizenship. That was what Kennedy/McCain was trying to establish. You are asking him to be a martyr, rather than questioning the fact that the system has a problem. I hope that one of the Texas or Massachusetts Senators has the ability to get the special legislation needed to allow the boy to return to his studies at Harvard.

As to getting over on the system, it seems this was a kid who did play by the rules in high school and did well enough to enter Harvard. He clearly did not have a role in the decision to enter the United States.

So there is a path to citizenship. Granted it's not an easy one. There is just no guarantee you will become a citizen.

And you've accomplished all your greatness
despite your astonishlingly POOR grasp
of basic English grammar and punctuation.

How very remarkable.

But, what with you being a 6'7" fellow who's
smoked pot regularly for 50 years, I guess
that very little about you should surprise us,
right?

Grew up in America.

I swear, we deserve whatever happens to us. :crazy:

A number of geniuses on this very thread (who he probably spots 30 IQ points to as well as a similar range of EQ to).

The latter bit is salient; look at the moral reasoning- it's preconventional, using Kohlberg's stages (i.e. typical of children and adolescents).

Have to reread those. :hi:

A few of them we can read and try our own hands at right here:

http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/kohlberg.dilemmas.html

The scoring of course- is another matter...;-)

I get that hes "illegal" because he's passed over this imaginary line we call a border and entered our magical kingdom where we make up rules to segregate the human race from each other blah blah blah...I get it. We are a bunch of idiots but thats besides the point.

The real story here is that this kid is 13 and in Harvard? What?! Or did I read it wrong? lol

College is about education, not age.

Try to get your head around THAT!

So it's possible he didn't know he was here illegally.

:shrug:
rocktivity

Just because he was four years late from being one of dem anchor babies doesn't change crap! Put him in a cattle car!

/frothing nativist poster

because someone at the high school thought it wasn't worth it or possible.

We have to do something about these kids. This is nuts already.

Harvard or not.

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Sigh. Thanks, though :)

My Ignore list got suddenly longer too.

I'm saying the law applies to all illegal immigrants.

Where did you get, "are you saying Mexicans should go back to where they came from?" from?

Where do you want him to go, exactly?

Hopefully, he'll be back in the States legally soon.

Deportation carries a 10 year bar to subsequent re-entry.

I flash on the Fugitive Slave Act. That was the law, too. An unjust law but "the law", nevertheless.

I guess if it isn't your hide or your family or the rest of your life, some people have no problem consigning human beings to "the law".

Lets work to repeal this law as well. But until the law is repealed it is still the law should be enforced like any other law. We are either nation of laws or we aren't.

of what is right, ethical or moral. But I know I might as well be singing the Muppets' Theme Song.

:)

Poor Mexicans are at the bottom of the immigration list, and it's not uncommon for some to wait their entire lifetimes, and die, without receiving an answer to their immigration application.

Mexicans are routinely bypassed in the application process to ensure "diversity" with our immigration. Thus the entire premise of our immigration policy is biased, bigoted, warped and unjust. A Mexican farmer with very little education will never see a visa in his lifetime. Any hope for improving the lot of his or her children is virtually nil.

So. From the outset it's unjust.

But going further, suppose you are a child, like in the OP, who is brought to the US by your parents. Perhaps you don't even know you are illegal. Your parents have provided false birth certs, even a false story about your origins. You think it doesn't happen? Happens ALL the time.

This "child" is now an adult. All their life they have believed they are legal. And now they discover they aren't? Who do you "justifiably" go after?

Or perhaps you are a child/adult who is now applying for college and you discover you are illegal. What do you do as an 18 year old adult? Declare your own "illegality"? You think that's JUST?

You aren't allowing for ANY grey areas. None.

Your black(brown)/white thinking doesn't work here. You can go on and on about some line in the sand, but it's not that easy. I've already put it out there that I've hired an illegal alien myself. I'm a farmer so many of my employees are hispanic. The young man in question spoke perfect english but with a hispanic name. I made copies of his ss card and his drivers license (I do that with anyone questionable). I checked his info out with the SS database and found out the # is all legit. 10 years later the IRS calls me to tell me it's all false. He's stolen the info and the legitimate owner is now retiring and discovering the problem. The young man who worked for me is long gone.

Did he even know his info was false? He was clearly brought to the US very early as his english was completely american. His parents most likely provided him the docs.

Whose to blame? Should this young man be deported? He may never have even known he WAS illegal. I'm not even sure he spoke spanish, many Americanized latinos do not. His family may not even have any relations in Mexico even if he were deported. He left me to go on to work for a roofing company. One of the hardest workers I've had the pleasure to have employed.

"Should this young man be deported?"

Yes, he's a criminal.

"He may never have even known he WAS illegal"

He knew enough to steal documents from someone else.

The law's unjust? Then change it but don't pretend like illegal immigration is a good thing.

Cases like this usually are treated as civil infractions under immigration law, unlike intentional border-crossing. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) addressed the distinction in an Apr. 6, 2006 report entitled "Immigration Enforcement Within the United States":

"The INA (Immigration and Nationality Act) includes both criminal and civil components, providing both for criminal charges (e.g., alien smuggling, which is prosecuted in the federal courts) and for civil violations (e.g., lack of legal status, which may lead to removal through a separate administrative system in the Department of Justice). Being illegally present in the U.S. has always been a civil, not criminal, violation of the INA, and subsequent deportation and associated administrative processes are civil proceedings. For instance, a lawfully admitted nonimmigrant alien may become deportable if his visitor's visa expires or if his student status changes. Criminal violations of the INA, on the other hand, include felonies and misdemeanors and are prosecuted in federal district courts. These types of violations include the bringing in and harboring of certain undocumented aliens, the illegal entry of aliens, and the reentry of aliens previously excluded or deported."

http://immigration.procon.org/sourcefiles/ImmigrationEnforcementWithintheUnitedStates.pdf

Isn't any undocumented alien committing a crime if they used forged documents to get a job or to be admitted to a school? I think so.

There's no evidence of that here. He's scheduled for a deportation hearing; he's not being charged with a crime.

employment is widespread. We were discussing this one unfortunate individual, but the subject of criminal vs civil has also come up and so I just had a general question about it.

I was talking about the dude in the other poster's example.

WE don't know if his parents got him papers when he was young and he believed all along he was legal. We don't know anything. This is however about a CHILD who was brought to the US, and children typically don't have a lot of knowledge about the kinds of dealings their parents are up to, especially if they are illegal ones. This young man may have forged documents, he may not have ANY forged documents, he may not even know he's illegal. We don't know any details right now. He may be the victim of a crime his parents committed. That was my point. There are so many gray areas that are not dealt with, that are not codified. And many people are in those gray areas and should not be automatically deported. But they are - many times before it's even been established that they have committed any crime. There are many stories of legal US Mexican American citizens being "deported" erroneously. That's because our system is deeply, fatally flawed.

And I'm not pretending illegal immigration is a good thing. I believe I've said it already that our immigration policies are not good things. And that they are intentionally and purposefully unjust, especially towards Mexicans, right from the first moment they try to get a visa.

If it were, the Constitution would guarantee the suspect the right to counsel and a fair hearing. We don't want to extend to foreigners the same rights we extend to criminals, so we classify unlawful presence as a civil violation, not a criminal offense.

Many people believe that the law IS right. Why should your opinion be more valid than theirs? We are a nation of laws. If a majority of our elected representatives agree with you that the law is wrong, they should repeal it. Or if the courts decide that the law is unconstitutional then they should overturn it. But until and if either of those things happen, the law should be enforced. If each and every person gets to decide whether to observe a law based upon their own personal opinion about whether the law is wrong or right, we will have total chaos.

I had to help my Gay Argentine lover over the border (long beyond statute of limitations) He could never be legal until we found a "wife". He subsequently caught AIDS ,Here, and died in LA .No Green card..( they were so hot to get us for something, they rushed us through immigrations to customs for the search. close , but no cigar)

So many of these stories. One of my old boyfriends is here illegally with his now wife and three kids. After being away from them for five years, he just couldn't do it any more and brought them all up. I have no idea who has docs and who doesn't. At least they're together.

If he can't figure something else out.

*What possible benefit to society* is served by deporting this highly intelligent, (almost certainly) highly motivated young man? Is depriving ourselves of a brilliant scientific mind really worth it, just to make sure that the letter of the law is followed perfectly?

His intelligence, class, abilities should grant him special privileges?

And I especially don't advocate deporting their children who've lived here from a very early age. But in this case, the young man's "intelligence, class, abilities" make the idea of deporting him seem especially unjust, not to mention stupid.

So for the third time I ask, what net benefit accrues to society if we throw this kid out on his ass?

Whenever someone is allowed to get away with breaking the law, it has a negative effect.

And illegal immigration is against the law.

So treating "illegals" as if they were violent felons is a grossly disproportionate response. And that, I think, is really the crux of my argument.

And not all laws are just, fair, or sensible anyway...

Proportionality is supposed to be at the base of all of our laws: we don't execute people for jaywalking or spitting on the sidewalk, for instance. Neither is law supposed to be as rigidly black and white as many here would seem to believe. DAs decline to prosecute approximately three quarters of the cases brought to them by the police because, even though a violation of law has occurred, there exist extenuating circumstances which make it unjust to try the suspect. Judges are likewise expected to exercise their discretion to ensure that law enforcement doesn't result in an injustice. Yet many here seem to believe that a law is so carved-in-granite sacred object which must be observed and enforced to the maximum in every instance, without exception or consideration of the circumstances. No doubt they are driving even as we speak to their local penitentiary to present themselves for execution for their prior jaywalking and red light running offenses - after all, a law is a law.

Jaywalkers and speeders get ticketed and fined because that is the appropriate response to their behavior.

Bank robbers get put in jail to keep them separated from society because threatening someone to steal money from them is violent behavior.

Illegal immigrants get deported because they don't belong here. There is a process to follow regardless of how fair you feel it is. Don't follow the process? Face the consequences.

Or drinking booze. Or marrying inter-racially. Or having a same-sex partner.
Now the Patriot Act is legal. It is also legal for corporations to pour money into our elections. War under false pretenses, hah!, legal.
Sure, the law is the law.

Surely he wouldn't be the first person at Harvard to be there on a student visa. As it stands now, somewhere in the US a highly qualified legal resident of America was improperly denied admission to Harvard because this guy was in the country illegally and took his or her spot in the class of 2013.

You're absolutely spot on! I mean, what is this world coming to when good wholesome Aryan-Americans can't exercise their birthright??? :eyes:

I was thinking someone like this



But feel free to continue advocating for rich white kids if you so desire...not that there's anything wrong with that.

But I'd still like to point out that a lot of the people who would cheer on the deportation of this young man, would also be opposed to someone like Obama attending Harvard. Because he's just a token affirmative-action student, doncha know. :sarcasm:

From what I know, Harvard takes anyone they want. You are accepted first, and then you apply for a student visa. Your immigration status means nothing to your acceptance. Harvard leaves it up to students to work that kink out. So nobody was denied admission because this kid was illegal. Everyone is accepted that Harvard wants to accept.

There are some very not-so-bright kids who are at Harvard because their parents bought their place. Did they bump someone off?

There are kids who are there because they represent some niche Harvard wants to fill to broaden it's student diversity. Did they bump someone off?

Your statement that this guy bumped someone off the admissions list is completely bogus. Plenty of fully qualified students don't get admitted to Harvard every year. Harvard selects whomever they want to get in. This kid was selected regardless of his immigration status.

They can't take every qualified applicant who applies; they simply don't have the space. Also, it removes the air of exclusivity that Ivy League colleges seek to cultivate. You let in too many people and you're no longer exclusive enough. If they set the quota at 200 incoming freshman (a number I made up for the purposes of this discussion) they did not increase it to 201 for this guy; they whittled down the list of candidates to the top 200, in the opinions of the admissions board members. That means that someone - #201 in this case - got denied rather than admitted to Harvard.

I don't have a problem with some rich kids getting into Harvard because their parents bought their place. If I gave a school $50 million towards their endowment then my kids had damn well better be admitted when they're ready for college. Also, Harvard's multi-billion dollar endowment allows them to reduce the costs borne by students of lesser means.

Harvard let him in on his own merits. He didn't bump anyone - Harvard admits its 200 freshman and this guy was one of them. I'm not understanding your reasoning that his admission has anything to do with his immigration status.

And here I thought that folks like this guy were people we wanted to encourage to emigrate to this country.
If the guy has been here since he was 4, then he is an American for all intents and purposes.
Have him fill out the proper paperwork and move on.

in violation of international or even American law.

all the harangues about Helen. I could see it.

Holy cow.

Don't make bigoted, hateful remarks if you don't want to be harangued.

Doesn't bother me.

BTW, what bigoted remarks have I made?

It's all you're good for.

but it's not a personal thing- a lot of people are like that. They want the law to punish those they don't like- or whose actions they decry- or those who they're afraid of. The integrity or the spirit or the purpose of the law itself isn't a concern- it's quite easily dismissed as a "technicality" if it gets in the way of the lust for retribution or the desire for "just desserts."

You need to work on some new verses.

There are an awful lot of bad laws on the books; some of them aren't followed, and don't deserve to be followed.

on TV a year or so ago. I think it was on PBS, but I could be wrong.

It was about this physician, currently an esteemed brain surgeon. He came across the border years ago, undocumented I do believe. He was just a teenager. Put himself through school. Went to Harvard I think, but my memory is sketchy on all this. My apologies.

Anyway, I thought at the time what society would have been deprived of if he had been turned back at the border.

Why don't we trade John Boehner and the rest of his worthless party for some immigrants. On second thought, that would be a terrible thing to do to the Mexican people.

I used my BU ID card (when I had completely forgotten my driver's licence at my apartment (I left it in my coat!)) while flying back to Minnesota from Logan Airport. They weren't sure about using it but let me on anyway.

Maybe the rules have changed since then?

Makes a big difference when you flew that flight.

bring her passport home from school. (She got a ride home from college in MA and was going on a trip by plane with us out of NJ) She was sent into a special line and so they could verify her identity. This was even with her having two parents and two sisters with the same last name as hers on her school's picture ID. This happened in both NJ and Chicago.

I think the law changed to needing a STATE issued picture ID some time after 911. (In NJ, it meant that many of us - who had non-picture driving licenses that were SO easy to renew.

In my daughter's case, it was just an annoyance and it has led to her always remembering her id, but it really does create a problem for illegal aliens.

have to carry her papers whenever she was out of the house....

this kids parents dropped the ball by putting him in this situation. (IMO)

Chile has a national ID card called the "cedula de identidad" that everyone carries.

Foreign citizens who plan to live in Chile are issued the cedula, which includes one's full name, gender, date of birth, country of birth and an (Rol Unico Nacional) eight-diget number that serves as the Chilean equivalent of the U.S. Social Security number.

Foreigners apply for the cedula at the Servicio de Registro Civil E Identificacion in downtown Santiago. www.registrocivil.cl has the information. It takes about 11 working days for it to be issued. Cost is 4,500 chilean pesos, about eight dollars.

So it is not necessary to be walking around with one's passport, although a backup ID such as a driver's license would be good.

(Source: Mrs. Rabs cedula de identidad that I am holding in my hands and info we are getting directly from her daughter in Puerto Montt, Chile via Webcam.)

Best of luck to your daughter if she goes; she will enjoy Chile, a beautiful country.

He was four years old when brought to the U.S. He had no say in the matter.

He should appeal. But he's not here legally.

or at least it did once upon a time before Americans morphed into something the rest of the world sees as very dysfunctional and ugly.

Do you apply that to every other issue? Or just immigration?

how selective *they're* being. I mean, are you really gonna fight this hard for every single law on the books? Or is immigration law a special case? And if so, why?

which should be no problem since he obviously has been admitted, and has sufficient funds for college (either through work/study, scholarships, grants or whatever else he was using already). I have studied overseas and my daughter is currently studying overseas so I know the requirements inside and out. This kid will have no problem getting his visa from Harvard.

The student visa thing should see him through virtually all his schooling because he is clearly a valued foreign student. Once he's a neurosurgeon, he'll gain US citizenship because he has the kinds of skills the US wants.

So for this kid, I'm guessing he'll be fine.

But it took getting here to the US in any way shape or form, having a terrific US education, and then using his innate intelligence to get into Harvard.

For the average Mexican, there is absolutely NO chance they would get a visa to get in. It takes decades if ever. The INS agency is impossible for Mexicans and tremendously biased against this population in my experience. Whoever had an Ethiopian friend and Latvia maid, they got their visas because they are from a different country THAN Mexico. Their applications get processed faster to ensure a diverse immigration population to the US.

For many desperate Mexicans seeking to better the lives of their children, waiting decades just ensures the cycle of despair and poverty for another generation, if they ever DO get a visa. And I mean EVER. Uneducated Mexicans seeking visas are universally dropped to the bottom of the waiting list to get in. Over and over.

This kid's family gambled it all to get him here to the US to give him a better life. You can bet his story is replayed over and over perpetuating the cycle in the immigrant community, legal or illegal. Everyone wants to take that gamble.

We desperately need to fix immigration so it's not so insanely biased against Mexicans, our closest neighbors.

His education credentials are not accepted in Mexico, he may not know anyone there. Even if he did, he would be stuck in the country for the next ten years, possibly forever. All because of the choice his parents took when he was a child, he did not had the choice of refusing to go to the US when he was a child.

Putting aside the fact that he's lived here since early childhood, and may not even be fluent in Spanish, which is to say he'd be completely lost in his parents' homeland - folks obviously couldn't care less about that. But we'd also be losing a potentially very productive citizen, so I can't see this as anything but a net loss to the nation.

I mean, honestly, *what good would it do to send him to Mexico*? I just can't see anything but racism, either latent or not-so-latent, as the reasoning behind it.

:rofl:

They gambled and lost.

to fill a job that he could do.

are overwhelming.

I wish him all the luck in the world on his legal path.

states that he has to stay out of the country for 10 years before applying again as a penalty for staying without a visa.

:rofl:

:crazy:

yes, sorry situation. and if my parents did that to me i'd be damn pissed.

But the fact that he's a brilliant kid with enormous potential just makes the situation downright egregious. Forcing him out of his adopted homeland would not only ruin his life, it would also be shooting ourselves in the collective foot - who knows what contributions to society he might be capable of?

- In the interim he is using resources - including his place in college - that are for citizens and those who have taken the time, the funds and the care to enter the US legally.

I hope he is able to re-enter the U. S. legally. Until then, he needs to return to his country of origin.

I assure you that Harvard actively seeks out a diverse student population, including many citizens of foreign countries.

This young man got in irrespective of his immigration status. No US citizen got bumped because of him. Harvard wanted HIM. Student visas for foreign students are commonplace. In fact, that this young man didn't go that route, legally getting his student visa to attend Harvard, leads me to believe he never knew he was illegal. He came here when he was 4 years old.

- I don't understand why you are having difficulty comprehending what I wrote. The answer to your question is in my original post.

Harvard can admit anyone they like. They can admit illegals, felons or the man on the moon if they like.

No matter what you think, Harvard decides who to admit, not you. No "resources" were allocated unfairly to this kid. Harvard decides how to allocate it's resources and admissions to it's students.

U.S. law has a bar on reentry for anyone who overstayed their visa for 180 days or more. And he did not choose to come in. He was brought here when he was 4.

And Harvard is private.

- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4423724&mesg_id=4425651