Heading? I think we're there. Anw with an amazing piece of synchronicity, the Brits may have got there at the same time. Which is too bad. NOW who leads the free world?
I take he wasn't involved in the Great Escape. He's still alive. :-) The Germans put a lot of people in the dock at Nuremberg with their reaction to that one.
Congress is considering a bill giving a path to citizenship to illegals. So what does the main paper in Silicon Gulch publish on its front page today?
"Just the news", my ***!
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Out of the shadows
COLLEGES COMPETE FOR STUDENT, BUT HIS FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN
By Jessie Mangaliman
Mercury News
Hector Vega was 14 when he arrived in San Jose in November 2001, with his sister. Now 18, he has succeeded academically, but has overstayed his visa for years.
Gary Reyes / Mercury News
Hector Vega was 14 when he arrived in San Jose in November 2001, with his sister. Now 18, he has succeeded academically, but has overstayed his visa for years.
More photos
* What can help Vega?
* Forum: Talk immigration reform
* Special report: Immigration debate
Hector Vega is co-valedictorian of James Lick High School in East San Jose, winner of a $20,000 National Merit Scholarship and an entering freshman on a full scholarship at Santa Clara University.
He didn't speak a word of English five years ago when he arrived from Mexico, but he mastered the language in a year, advanced to honors classes and graduated from high school with a 4.0 grade-point average.
Vega is also an illegal immigrant.
Tall, soft-spoken and confident, Hector Vega, 19, is making a risky -- some say courageous -- choice in sharing his story and declaring publicly, ``Soy ilegal.''
In the divisive national debate about immigration reform, the young man from East San Jose is offering a rarely heard personal and public voice, representative of the predicament of thousands of children who were brought here by undocumented parents. Among the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, each year about 65,000 undocumented children graduate from U.S. schools, unable to work legally, or qualify for federal school loans and grants.
``I speak on behalf of many that come here in the quest for a better life,'' he said in a valedictory that moved students, parents and teachers to tears. ``I am, like many others out there who never give up their hopes, an immigrant. . . . ''
The controversial DREAM Act, a provision in the U.S. Senate-approved immigration reform bill, would give legal status to students like Vega.
The Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies opposes it.
``It undermines the enforcement of immigration laws,'' said John Keeley, spokesman for CIS. ``The laws are explicit on what's to be done with illegal immigrants, irrespective of their GPAs or age.''
For Vega, the prospect of not being able to attend college here was more frightening than the risk of deportation.
``I just kept thinking, `I went through all this and I won't get to see my dream realized,' '' he said. ``I thought, `There has to be a way.' ''
Anxious for him
Everyone around Vega -- his mother, friends, teachers, mentors and new college advisers -- are worried for him.
``Anybody who speaks for justice puts themselves at risk,'' said the Rev. Sonny Manuel, rector of the Jesuit community at SCU. ``If this were safe, if everyone agreed, you wouldn't have to say anything.''
Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said, ``Anyone who's in this country illegally is in violation of our immigration laws and is subject to arrest,'' but in an individual case such as Vega's, she added, ``We don't speculate on what action we might or might not take.''
Vega was 14 when he arrived in San Jose in November 2001, with his sister. They came on six-month visas, like their mother, who had immigrated two years earlier to join two aunts, both U.S. citizens.
In school, officials concerned about his language skills suggested he repeat a grade. Vega argued, ``If I didn't do well, then I'll repeat a grade. I knew I wouldn't.''
Said his Spanish teacher and mentor, Julissa Huerta: ``Right away, you knew he had a strong spirit. I remember meeting him and his mother. He said he was working cleaning trucks. I thought, `Wow.' ''
He washed big rigs and later sold cell phones, primarily to Spanish speakers at a mall. His mother worked at a nursing home.
He organized a bilingual certification campaign for Californians for Justice, a non-profit organization. East Side district schools began issuing certificates of bilingual ability to students.
``He had a deep sense of self,'' said Janelle Ishida, lead organizer for San Jose's CFJ. ``He's deeply motivated.''
Quick study
Between his freshman and sophomore years, Vega completed remedial English and then skipped over three levels.
``As a teacher, you couldn't forgive yourself if you didn't go the extra mile for him,'' counselor Mildred Llanos-Richard said. ``It was a privilege.''
He collected top grades in math and science, wrote essays in Spanish and English that teachers used as instruction models, and mentored new immigrant students. He also raised more than $1,000 for a folklorico dance group's costumes.
``I wanted to be like other kids,'' said Vega, president of his senior class. ``I was driven.''
And brave. During a civics field trip to Washington, D.C., in April, another student started joking ``about building a border fence and putting a maze under the fence and making the Mexicans go through the maze, and then putting Taco Bells at the end of the maze,'' said a classmate, Karen Madrigal. ``It was just so offensive and dumb.''
Vega spoke up.
``He was cool and collected,'' she said. ``He told the guy that it was inappropriate and not respectful.''
Latinos make up 75 percent of the 1,100 students at Vega's James Lick High School. Most are immigrants and some are undocumented.
Daily worry
``It's an everyday reality for students and families,'' organizer Ishida said.
Out of six universities that accepted Vega, he chose Santa Clara University. It offered a full scholarship. It also meant, as his mother had wished, that he'd stay close to home.
Eight years ago, said the Rev. Manuel, SCU became one of the first universities in the United States to grant scholarships to undocumented students. About 10 undocumented students have since graduated from SCU.
``Hector Vega is an example of how well these students have done,'' Manuel said. ``They're high achievers.''
Another example is Princeton University honors student Dan-El Padilla, who was offered a two-year scholarship to Oxford University in England but had to refuse. He's an illegal immigrant, brought to the United States at age 4. If he were to travel to England, he would be barred from returning to the United States for at least 10 years. He is appealing his immigration case with the federal government.
Scholarships pile up
As Vega searched for a university to attend, he was keenly aware of his limited access to grants and loans. He applied for 15 scholarships, submitting an essay in which he divulged: ``As I restarted my life, I faced closed doors at every turn along the way due to my status as an undocumented student.''
He won a handful of small regional scholarships. Early this year, Vega learned that he was one of 250 national winners of a $20,000 merit scholarship from Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation.
``It was bliss,'' Vega said of being chosen out of 50,000 applicants.
When Coca-Cola learned he was undocumented, the foundation considered withdrawing the scholarship.
Mary Dutcher, immigration program director for the non-profit Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, filed an immigration application for Vega sponsored by an uncle who is a U.S. citizen. Coca-Cola then awarded him the scholarship.
``What we have at the university is really an effort, a Jesuit tradition, to meet everybody's needs,'' Manuel said, ``a whole spectrum of needs: students who need financial help, students who deserve merit -- and, certainly, undocumented students would be a part of that group.''
The standard that applies, Manuel said, is, ``How universal is it? Does it really help everyone?''
Political interest
Vega does not know yet what he'll major in at college. Politics interests him. So do journalism and writing. He hopes a member of Congress hears his story and becomes inspired to introduce legislation to help illegal immigrants.
Undocumented individuals already living and working in the United States should be granted a path to citizenship, he said, because mass deportation ``would be chaos and cause a crisis.''
He would also like to see more skilled and educated immigrants from Mexico.
``We are more than the workers who stand in the sun asking for work,'' he wrote in his valedictory. ``We are more than the restless farm workers that collect vegetables in the fields. . . . We are more than that. We are intelligent individuals capable of extraordinary success in any professional field.''
Enrique Valencia, 17, who graduated with Vega and will be attending the University of California-Berkeley, said his friend is ``creating a connection with this great national controversy, and a connection to our community.''
As with Padilla, the Princeton graduate from the Dominican Republic, Vega also cannot study abroad. Walking to a public library in Alum Rock, not far from his old high school, Vega reflected on this with resignation.
``I can't do that,'' he said. ``But maybe I can do other things.''
For now, Vega weighs in on an important national debate, knowing its risks.
``I think it's normal to feel scared,'' he said. ``But there's bigger things. The dream, the hope, the idea that you can better yourself.''
mercurynews.com
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WHAT CAN HELP VEGA?
The DREAM Act would give children of illegal immigrants who graduate from U.S. high schools a path to citizenship.
WHO WOULD QUALIFY?
• Undocumented students brought to the United States by their parents at age 15 or younger, graduate from high school and go on to college, or serve in the U.S. military, could qualify for temporary, and eventually permanent, legal status.
• Students who have committed crimes, or are deemed security risks, would not qualify.
WHERE DOES IT STAND?
The proposed legislation is attached to an immigration reform bill approved by the U.S. Senate, and awaiting compromise with the U.S. House of Representatives.
Source: National Immigration Law Center
mercurynews.com |
