Re: What part of why didn't she get her citizenship or at least put it in train since she is so smart

[THE ANNOINTED ONE]

Mexico could use someone like her

On Mar 28, 8:40 am, dick thompson  wrote:
> Editorial Observer
>
>   Don't Deport Benita Veliz
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> Article Tools Sponsored By
> 
> By LAWRENCE DOWNES
> Published: March 28, 2009
>
> A question from the realm of the unanswerable: How will this country be
> a better place once we force Benita Veliz to leave it?
>
> Ms. Veliz is an illegal immigrant facing deportation, but she is
> nobody's idea of a criminal, social undesirable or drain on the public till.
>
> She is a 23-year-old college graduate from San Antonio who works in a
> church office. She is smart, self-sufficient and hard-working. She is
> bursting with academic and professional ambitions --- dreams that she
> has set aside because her paths to achieve them have all been closed.
> Immigration lawyers have told her that she has no hope of avoiding
> expulsion. She can only postpone it.
>
> Ms. Veliz is here illegally, but not by choice. She arrived from Mexico
> with her parents in 1993 on a tourist visa. She was 8. She had never
> lived in the United States before but has lived nowhere else since. By
> all detectable measures, she is an American, a Texan.
>
> And an impressive one at that. She was valedictorian at Jefferson High
> School, graduating at age 16. She went to St. Mary's University in San
> Antonio on a full scholarship. She doubled majored in biology and
> sociology and fully deployed herself beyond the classroom in clubs,
> student government, choir. She volunteered in a children's hospital. And
> she waited tables 45 hours a week in a Mexican restaurant.
>
> Her honors thesis was about the Dream Act.
>
> A quick digression about that. The Dream Act is a Congressional bill
> that would allow children of illegal immigrants to earn citizenship
> after going to college or serving in the military. The idea is that
> America should not expel but assimilate dedicated young people who are
> not at fault for their illegal status. The Dream Act seeks to make
> citizens out of people, like Benita Veliz, who are longing --- and
> fighting --- for its passage. Bipartisan Dream Act bills were introduced
> in the House and Senate just this week, their future uncertain.
>
> Ms. Veliz wanted to go to law school, but couldn't afford tuition and
> didn't qualify for federal loans. So she started a photography and
> design business, taught piano and tutored in math and science. She now
> works in a regional office of a Pentecostal church in San Antonio, doing
> payroll and other administrative tasks.
>
> Her fateful encounter with the law happened on Jan. 21. A police officer
> pulled her over, saying she had rolled through a stop sign. She says
> that is not true, but she acknowledges driving without a license. She
> had a Mexican consular identity card, and after a series of questions,
> the officer called immigration authorities. She was jailed overnight and
> released on bond.
>
> Nancy Shivers, an immigration lawyer in San Antonio whom Ms. Veliz has
> consulted, said she met some of the requirements that might have allowed
> her to stay in the United States. She has been here more than 10 years
> and is demonstrably of good moral character. But without a qualifying
> parent, spouse or child to petition on her behalf, she cannot stay.
>
> Ms. Shivers says Ms. Veliz is a poster child for the Dream Act, but
> hardly the only one. For every Benita Veliz, she said, there many others
> who dropped out because they saw no point in getting a college degree.
> They are working in low-wage jobs, off the books, their bright futures
> prematurely dead-ended.
>
> Ms. Veliz's voice cracks when talking about her case, but she gets
> excited when asked about her dreams. The words just tumble out:
>
> "I would like to go to law school and be an att

What part of why didn't she get her citizenship or at least put it in train since she is so smart

[dick thompson]

Editorial Observer

Don’t Deport Benita Veliz







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By LAWRENCE DOWNES
Published: March 28, 2009 

 
A question from the realm of the unanswerable: How will this country
be a better place once we force Benita Veliz to leave it? 
Ms.
Veliz is an illegal immigrant facing deportation, but she is nobody’s
idea of a criminal, social undesirable or drain on the public till.
She
is a 23-year-old college graduate from San Antonio who works in a
church office. She is smart, self-sufficient and hard-working. She is
bursting with academic and professional ambitions — dreams that she has
set aside because her paths to achieve them have all been closed.
Immigration lawyers have told her that she has no hope of avoiding
expulsion. She can only postpone it. 
Ms. Veliz is here
illegally, but not by choice. She arrived from Mexico with her parents
in 1993 on a tourist visa. She was 8. She had never lived in the United
States before but has lived nowhere else since. By all detectable
measures, she is an American, a Texan.
And an impressive one at
that. She was valedictorian at Jefferson High School, graduating at age
16. She went to St. Mary’s University in San Antonio on a full
scholarship. She doubled majored in biology and sociology and fully
deployed herself beyond the classroom in clubs, student government,
choir. She volunteered in a children’s hospital. And she waited tables
45 hours a week in a Mexican restaurant.
Her honors thesis was about the Dream Act.
A
quick digression about that. The Dream Act is a Congressional bill that
would allow children of illegal immigrants to earn citizenship after
going to college or serving in the military. The idea is that America
should not expel but assimilate dedicated young people who are not at
fault for their illegal status. The Dream Act seeks to make citizens
out of people, like Benita Veliz, who are longing — and fighting — for
its passage. Bipartisan Dream Act bills were introduced in the House
and Senate just this week, their future uncertain.
Ms. Veliz
wanted to go to law school, but couldn’t afford tuition and didn’t
qualify for federal loans. So she started a photography and design
business, taught piano and tutored in math and science. She now works
in a regional office of a Pentecostal church in San Antonio, doing
payroll and other administrative tasks. 
Her fateful encounter
with the law happened on Jan. 21. A police officer pulled her over,
saying she had rolled through a stop sign. She says that is not true,
but she acknowledges driving without a license. She had a Mexican
consular identity card, and after a series of questions, the officer
called immigration authorities. She was jailed overnight and released
on bond.
Nancy Shivers, an immigration lawyer in San Antonio whom
Ms. Veliz has consulted, said she met some of the requirements that
might have allowed her to stay in the United States. She has been here
more than 10 years and is demonstrably of good moral character. But
without a qualifying parent, spouse or child to petition on her behalf,
she cannot stay.
Ms. Shivers says Ms. Veliz is a poster child for
the Dream Act, but hardly the only one. For every Benita Veliz, she
said, there many others who dropped out because they saw no point in
getting a college degree. They are working in low-wage jobs, off the
books, their bright futures prematurely dead-ended.
Ms. Veliz’s
voice cracks when talking about her case, but she gets excited when
asked about her dreams. The words just tumble out:
“I would like
to go to law school and be an attorney for a few years, and then after
that get into politics on a Congressional level, either senator or
representative. I’ve actually always wanted to do international
relations, get a master’s in international relations, with a law
degree. I would want to do international law, or immigration law, but
not really just that, but that’s just one small sort of thing in the
long spectrum of things.”
For Ms. Veliz, the long spectrum of
things might involve a long or permanent stay in Mexico, a country that
she does not know or belong in anymore. 
As for the country she
knows and loves, if it were smarter and kinder, more like the country
we see in fuzzy old documentaries, where hopeful families cluster on
the decks of ships passing the Statue of Liberty, it would find a way
to let her stay. It would let her go to law school. It would accept
Benita Veliz as the American she is.

Next
Article in Opinion (8 of 27) »
A version of this article appeared in print on March 28, 2009, on
page A20 of the New York edition.