Deport a valedictorian?
|
|
17-year-old Arthur Mkoyan is the perfect example of the American dream in action. He’s an Armenian student in California, valedictorian of his high school, and hoping to study medicine. He is also facing deportation procedures. In order to prevent the deportation, Sen. Diane Feinstein has introduced a bill to keep him here.
Doug Mataconis of Below the Beltway says:
“If there was ever a case where simple human justice required an exception to be made, this is it.”
I agree, but I think it more than adequately demonstrates the Bearing Drift motto:
“Conservative. Because government will ‘f’ it up.”
A little commonsense and decency in the ol’ immigration bureaucracy would be nice. And, by and large, U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement gets it right. In this case, they’re wrong.
on 
Jim - how can you say on one hand they generally get it right, but when they are following the policies as established by the legislative branch, they are getting it wrong?
I agree with the specific point you make, he should be allowed to remain, but perhaps this is an opportunity to review the policy at large. (Note, I’m not sure that the policy is incorrect, but I can’t help but question a system that is geared to deport a young man such as your example - perhaps the current government policy is the ‘f’ up…).
Remember, the same government that manages immigration the Democrats want to manage health care.
You’d think a family fleeing from a former Soviet republic that was in turmoil in the 90s would’ve gotten asylum.
This brings up a whole host of issues with the immigration debate, and why I part from some on my side, and part from some on the other side, too.
Most illegal aliens don’t sneak across the border. They overstay legal visas. Yeah, we should build the security fence/wall, but without fixing the government’s legal processes, it only solves so much. This family’s been trying to gain legal status for 12 years.
There are a whole lot of people illegally in this country who don’t even attempt to comply with the system who aren’t being deported. Police look the other way when they need “informants,” political organizations salivate over potentials to increase voting strength, and some businesses pay “cash” for day jobs and save a bunch of payroll taxes and benefits, not to mention prevailing wages.
But the biggest problem i have with encouraging illegal immigration is the likelihood that their opportunity to succeed is almost nil. English is the language of commerce, and learning it is key to getting anywhere economically in the US. There are exceptions, but not enough to sentence millions to poverty.
This family seems to have tried for 12 years to work within a system that needs serious changes. This student was 2 when his family brought him to America. This is why I can’t fully ally with those who want to deport 12 million people tomorrow and sort them out later. But I can’t support blanket amnesty tomorrow and sort them out later, either.
By the way, this is also the reason McCain is the Republican nominee and Tom Tancredo is a trivial pursuit answer.
And its the reason why, in the long run, immigration will not be a winning issue for the GOP.
Judging by your response, Ragnar, not sure I was clear.
I, generally, feel that those who serve in the government are noble people who, generally, do a good job. Therefore, I was saying that ICE agents and employees probably work hard and generally try to do the right thing.
In this case, whatever monolithic principle they are governed by absolutely failed. But I am certain that someone in the “chain of command” could have said at some point “this is stupid” and tried to find a work-around before a bill had to be presented to congress.
Let the valedictorian get down on his knees and thank God he was allowed to finish the best education he would receive anywhere in the world. Then, let him board the plane with his parents and apply within the bounds of the immigration law. I’m sure he’ll get in with his qualifications but he has to do it the right way. This is about equal application of the law to every individual. So far, this doctor has had unequal treatment and it is not fair to any other immigrant.
If we’re so concerned with healthcare, how about prohibiting the AMA from limiting the number of seats at medical schools across the nation? Then we’d have a lot more doctors. After all, the ABA doesn’t limit the number of lawyers around and I don’t exactly see legal insurance being very lucrative. Throw a rock in Northern Virginia and the odds are you’ll hit a lawyer.
Doug, immigraton is absolutely an issue and must be. We have to secure the border and that means enforcing immigration laws. If we allow the argument of justice to descend to feeling what’s right or wrong, it is no justice at all. Justice becomes subjective according to the case rather than a predictable rule.
The valedictorian seems a sad case because the law took a long time to catch up and we are tempted to feel bad for this fellow. I don’t feel bad for him at all. Let him take his training back to his home country and be fruitful and multiply. We allow foreign students to do this all the time. This is nothing more than an extended stay for this foreign student. Nothing more, nothing less.
Quick follow up: I called this kid a doctor because that’s surely what he wants to be.