Children of Illegal Immigrants

It’s a tough issue.  The Dallas Morning News has been talking about it here:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062810dnmetnuundocgrads.1c4739b.html and own of my favorite diabetes bloggers here:  http://lifeafterdx.blogspot.com/2010/06/illegal-aliens.html

I’ve actually dealt with it.  I’ve had students who were brought in to the country for our education.  One in particular, actually called me “Mom”.  Here’s the deal:

One day in class, he accidently called me “mom”, instead of Miss.  Wasn’t sure why at the time, probably one of those slips, but he needed helped.  One of the other kids started teasing him about it, and so I sent along with him and said, “sure I’m his mom”.  We had a really good student/teacher relationship, and he started calling me mom all the time.

Well, come to find out, he’d been snuck in with his cousins, I didn’t learn about this until he was a senior and was about to be deported as he had been caught.

This is on aspect of the illegal immigration issue that is tough the way things are.  I honestly do believe the children of illegal immigrants who have been here all of their lives, and the ones that have been snuck in, should be given a free pass.  We should capitalize in what we’ve invested – we’ve educated these kids, and many of them can and could be great contributors to our society. 

Yes, the parents should be sent back, but if the kids have gone through our education system, they should be granted legal status.  We should take advantage of that education we paid for.  However, if and when they break the law, the legal status should be rescinded, and they should be deported.