Graduating & Illegal

They should request SSN. There's no reason not to.

Interesting pod.

of course they can, do you know how much money the government spends on illegals each year for education? i don't care what she's done she needs to immigrate legally and apply for citizenship. in my mind she should be deported

I think doing something illegal shouldn't be without consequence but the consequence shouldn't necessary be as harsh as deportation or a massive fine. I'm sure there is something that will totally fix the issue and please most people.

These girls are different than most that I know. They actually want to succeed and make their mother proud and that is something that should be appreciated. Not even all American children have such drive.

Any kid(s) that want to actively educate themselves and participate in our society to better themselves are welcome in my book. Besides, that integration of culture is what builds our culture here in America....we are famous for our freedom, which most of us take for granted.

Until you personally know someone who has struggled through such obstacles, its hard to understand...

Too bad it can't be handled on a case by case basis.

See these girls actually are doing something to succeed and i dont have a problem with this as much as i do the people who are hanging out in front or the Home Depot begging for jobs or the people who refuse to learn the language. They should however be deported after graduating and go to a Mexican College and wait in the line to become an american like the rest of the world. It's not fair that they can just cross the border and are showered with gifts and free healthcare. When Americans who are proud of themselves and dont except hand me outs are dying because they dont have health insurance.

Education should be available to anyone..i think... Because they want to succeed they should be given the opportunity to do so. After all they came at such a tender age...there life before will drive them to do better with every given opportunity.

They should learn education is NOT free. They should pay the non-resident rate for college after all legal citizens are placed first. Their rights are in Mexico.

the government should not spend a single cent on helping out illegal immigrants. they should all be deported.

Stand up for our rights as Americans and deport these girls who are unbelievable contributions to our society already. Do it. Be heartless. Act like our immigration laws are not constantly changing. Pretend that the American government hasn't created the system of inequality that runs rampant through Latin America. Say that arbitrary isolation and CIA funded guerrilla war has nothing to do with the generation of Hispanics who look to America as their only hope. Promote the American life of unfettered interventionist Capitalism and claim that American corporations have absolutely nothing to do with exploitation South of the Border.

There is no such thing as an Illegal Alien. There are only Undocumented Humans. And this documentation that is so coveted?? How do you attain it. According to the American ethos, you kick scream strive and fight for every inch. If we promote these United States as the bastion of hope and freedom where the right to work will never be infringed upon, why do we turn our noses up at any person who puts the recent wave of immigration from South America and Mexico in historical context?? We are a nation of laws, but we are also a nation that crafted these laws to purposefully ignore the realities of our Foreign Policy, both stated and clandestine -- but now all in the open. Historical Perspective is great. El Salvador. Panama. Nicaragua. Guatemala. Peru. Do some research everybody. Two generations after Chiquita banana we are feeling the effects as 16 million Undocumented Humans work for very little pay, relatively in this country but for extraordinary wages as compared to their home nations.

They come here to work. Nothing more. If they do something illegal, then they do something illegal. Deport them. If not, let them work. Why are we so scared of people who are different?? Nativism has been the same in this country for two hundred years. And I will fight against it forever.

these girls are cute - they play soccer and are fit - i don't care what their status is , i'd rather look at them than half the f--ng slugs which continue to reproduce in this country and keep this country fat .

Good pod. So many people come here to make a better life. We need to change the immigration system to take full advantage of their hope, their hard work, their inspiration and what they bring to America.

Nobody is "illegal."

Should they be deported? Yes they are illegal aliens.
There are plenty of other girls just like these who would also like to have a chance at U.S. citizenship and do not have the luxury of illegally crossing the border. Other people from around the world have to wait to gain citizenship, why should these girls be any different.

I am well aware that the reason that these girls along with most Mexican immigrants enter this country is largely due to the U.S. economic foreign policy and overthrows of various governments in central and South America. However, two wrongs do not make a right, and while things like NAFTA need to be eliminated, immigration law is necessary. Although the U.S. has been notorious for violating international law throughout its history, this is not justification for others to violate the U.S. border.

Well, we're certainly not running out of room, so that's not a reason to deport them. And possession is 9/10th of the law, which as the Dictionary of English Law (1959) explains "means that the person in possession can only be ousted by one whose title is better than his; every claimant must succeed by the strength of his own title and not by the weakness of his antagonist's." So the idea that there is some vague, unknown applicant that deserves their "spot" also flies against the basic notion of justice. Someone needs to come up with a valid reason for sending them back. I haven't heard one so far.

good for these girls. i wish them luck in the united states.

I am forever surprised at the vehement reaction that so-called "illegals" inspire. The notion that someone would "pretend" not to know English or refuse to learn the language and instead choose to be marginalized and powerless is absurd. Since the 1990's the number of illegal immigrants, coming mostly from Mexico, has reached an unprecedented level not seen since the early 1900's. Look no further than NAFTA and its devastating effects on Mexican farming to figure out why. You want to stop people from coming here? Support economic policies that foster self-sufficiency.

Crossing a dessert with no water, kids on your back, no food, not knowing wether the guide is really taking you where you need to go our just going to leave you for dead or kill you and sell your organs, potentioly be killed by someone who hates your fight to provide, potentioly being raped, beaten, sold, lied to, robbed, misunderstood and killed, taken to a druglord and made to swallow drugs, kidnapped for ransom, poisoned, drown in a river that has already claimed millions of lives, taken by the wildlife such as snakes, wolfs, scorpions, coyotes, and mountain lions, thrown from a ship into the deap blue sea, leaving your whole family knowing that you might not ever see them again, getting lost in the dessert, coming somewhere new working 12 hours a day for $5 dollars and hour, no lunch breaks, having to hide, lie, and run from men in uniforms that will take you away if they catch you, learn a new language, have everyone look at you like you are criminal when your working hard to survive for you and your family, having your friend who got shot in the head denied by the hospital because he dosent have a piece of paper, watching your kids grow up teased because they have an accent or cant afford new shoes, threatened by gang violence, neighbors, teachers, even the staff at the corner store because You "arent" suppose to be here, and looked at as if your feet being on the same ground as someone was draining the blood from the body of that person with just standing there breathing the same air, making the same dollar bill that was created by a private institution, like a mosquito or a bug, has anyone made you feel like an insect, like if they could step on you and get rid of you they would. Thats how an immagrant feels, thats what they go through, thats what they have to put up with everyday. But yet they still have the stregnth to carry on and watch you ignore them when they say hello and hi WITH A SMILE OF PLEASE DONT STEP ON ME IM NOT A BUG I AM THE SAME AS YOU . YOU THE ONE THAT IF were put in the same POSITION WOULD BREAK LIKE A TWIG THE ONE THAT WOULD FALL TO ITS KNEES AND BEG LIKE PIG THE ONE THAT WOULD SAY ITS "UNFAIR" YOU SAY UNDOCUMENTED HUMANS OR ILLEGAL ALIENS WE SAY UNHEARD VOICES AND UNFELT PAIN. now if you been through something worst i feel for you deeply but if not look in the mirror and say you want us to leave say you hate illegals cuz in saying you hate us is saying you yourself America was taken, stolen, and fooled. So keep saying that gate is up for a reason because it is not stopping me or anyone else. We have two choices Listen to you or jump Live or die. Luckily we have balls and arent getting stuffed by a bunch of rich guys in suits telling us whats best for our families take a page from our books and JUMP JUMP JUMP JUMP you only live once. A survivor dies once a coward dies a thousand deaths.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some handy stuff to add to the discussion:

1. Unless you're Native American, your family immigrated into the US.

2. 100 years ago, the American southwest belonged to Mexico, thus many Latinos trace their heritage to now-US land.

3. 100 years ago, America considered immigration one of its greatest assets. "illegal" immigration did not exist as a concept. People moved freely back and forth across the border patrols. They only closed the borders when immigrant workers began unionizing (raising the job standards for everyone) and when politicians realized they were an easy scape goat for failed economic policies (due to their inability to vote).

4. Illegal immigrants pay more taxes (income and sales tax) than they receive in social services, including public schooling.

5. Learning a second language after puberity is incredibly harder than learning it as children. English is often the 2nd or 3rd language for many immigrants, so it's not that they don't want to acquire English, it's just that age is no longer on their side.

5. We have much, much bigger national problems than what to do about a bunch of non-whites who are trying to find work here.

6. My parents brought me to the US illegally when I was 8. They saved up for 6 years in Mexico to afford being able to move here. They were both well-respected doctors who recognized that a failing Mexican economy would never supply their children with financial freedom. They paid hundreds of dollars to apply for social security #'s and permanent residency. We didn't receive any government benefits (besides public school). Our story is so very, very common.

A lot of you expressed a lot of anger towards immigrants, I'm curious to hear your stories of how immigration has negatively affected your economic or social lives.

Yespaloma, thanks for your insightful additions to the discussion. My grandparents immigrated here from Russia in 1920. All their relatives were killed in the pogroms or later by the Nazis. I am so glad they were able to immigrate when they did.

My grandma was a seamstress in NYC and her husband was a night print-setter at the New York Times. I am lucky they worked their butts off so now I can sit in front of a computer, drinking a beer, and typing my thoughts to all of you.

we are supposed to be welcoming. these two girls have come over here to better themselves and are already contributing to society. don't look at everyone as americans or mexicans---look at them as humans, because that is what we all are.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

----- did anyone bother to check for any small print under this???

hmm. these girls are here, furthering their education, not on corners selling coke to 13yr olds . . . . . ya think they'd get a little more credit for their actions. i guess not.

i hope it is it would be sad if they could not finish their education and life over here

Anyone who believes illegal immigrants are living the good life are just ignorant and frustrated with the government that controls our foreign policy. I'm sure its easy to say those things from behind a stationary computer screen.

Stop attacking immigrants.

If you want to throw stones at those supposedly receiving free hands outs then do so at those individuals because I have never seen a free hand out in my life. I would like to know what they look like to share with my Arabic, German, Cuban, South American, illegal friends. And those who "refuse to learn the English language." Pfft. I applaud little Cuban old ladies TRYING to speak to me in English.

I an one of those students that are stuck in the middle of this whole mess. Should I just wait it out or are there links to resources I can use to help me?

Thank you for this pod. You are speaking for the millions of silent immigrants living in the shadows. Let's pray for a solution to this soon.

If US citizens would take five minutes to sit down and listen to the story of someone who looked different from them or spoke another language, or God forbid, came here from another country illegally, it would be a very different world.

Why would any human being ever want to leave their community, their language and their family behind, so that they can sign up for being discriminated against, assumed to be a gang member, constantly in fear of deportation and limited to working back-breaking manual labor jobs? To paint the picture of immigrants arriving in the US being “showered with gifts and free healthcare” is painfully ignorant to the reality of living in this country as a low-income, non-native English speaker, in a run-down apartment complex with mold growing on the walls. It is not their fault that the economy in the country they happened to be born in can’t support them; in fact, like many others already stated, it’s largely our fault. More importantly, the US would fall apart if we didn’t have this labor force. Anyone that goes home at the end of the day and sees fruit or vegetables in their kitchen better start to appreciate and respect the presence of immigrants, or else head out to the fields themselves and start picking.

I deeply, deeply appreciate everyone who is willing to step out of the bubble of their own lives for a minute to show some respect to these girls and others like them.

And I’d love to find out where all of the gifts and free healthcare are because I know several others that could use them too.


To trovales: Try getting in touch with the Migrant Education Program in your area (it should be run through the public school system) and see if they have any resources for your state. Also, definitely keep studying! Look for private scholarships that don’t request SSN (they are hard to find but they’re out there - Bianca ended up receiving $10,000 because she worked super hard) Most Community Colleges don’t ask for SSN so you can get an Associates Degree and hope that the Dream Act passes in the near future so that you can go on to a 4-year school later – don’t lose faith!!

my brother, a BSN, met a vietnamese girl about 10 years ago, while she was working on a work visa. she is very smart and moved here to get a college education as a CPA.

they later married and had a child. they pay taxes, but she is still not a citizen of this country. they've been together, married, for 8 years, but she is waiting to obtain her official naturalization. she has a DL, she speaks english, and she's the head CPA at a major firm in louisiana. why's it so hard to come here legally?

and why must people be so quick to infer that immigrants bring our country down? (except for natives,) we are ALL immigrants!!!