DOUBLE STANDARD IN DEPORTATION OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
By Rueben Navarrette | Columnist
Chicago Daily Herald, IL
June 16 2008
Let me say a few words in defense of deporting illegal immigrants. I
wouldn’t have thought such a defense would be necessary, since being
in the United States without proper documents is a crime and the
penalty is deportation. But try telling that to the folks in Central
California who are experiencing warm and fuzzy feelings for 17-year-old
Arthur Mkoyan.
The high school valedictorian in my hometown of Fresno, Calif., studied
hard to earn a perfect grade-point average. And, for his hard work,
he was admitted to the University of California at Davis.
And yet, Arthur will probably never make it to freshman
orientation. That’s because, on June 20, the extension of his
deportation order will expire and federal immigration authorities
will likely apprehend the young man and his mother and send them to
Armenia. His father is being held in a detention facility until he
can be deported.
According to The Fresno Bee, Arthur’s father came to the United
States from the former Soviet Union in December 1991, and sought
political asylum. Arthur and his mother joined him a few years
later. No one came with the proper documents. And so, when their
asylum application was rejected, and appeals were denied, they were
targeted for deportation. That is as it should be. The law is the
law. Fortunately for this family, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein
introduced a last-minute bill on behalf on Arthur and his parents. Such
bills rarely pass.
Still, it’s a heartbreaking story. Say, maybe we can work out a
trade. Armenia lets us keep Arthur, and we send a dozen of our lazier
U.S.-born teenagers who think themselves entitled to the good life
but don’t want to do the work to make it happen.
Arthur, and his parents, will probably be deported. And they should be.
I said the same thing six years ago when a similar story surfaced. In
August 2002, The Denver Post ran a front-page story about Jesus
Apodaca, a recent high school graduate with a 3.93 grade-point average
who wanted to go to the University of Colorado but couldn’t afford
the tuition — because he was an illegal immigrant. In Colorado, the
undocumented have to pay higher out-of-state tuition rates. A member of
Congress involved himself in that case as well, albeit in a different
capacity. Anti-illegal immigration crusader Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.,
called what was then the Immigration and Naturalization Service and
asked them what they were planning to do about Apodaca. The young
man and his family were apprehended and, last we heard, were slated
for deportation. That won applause from immigration hard-liners.
But here’s the part that bothers me: I wonder why more of them —
including Tancredo — aren’t making a fuss over Arthur Mkoyan. Apodaca
didn’t get nearly the amount of public sympathy Mkoyan has received. I
believe it’s because, while Mkoyan may not have a leg to stand on
legally, he at least has the benefit of not being Mexican. Much of the
immigration debate is fueled by a fear of a changing culture, competing
languages, an altered landscape. Arthur Mkoyan isn’t considered a party
to any of that. For some people, that makes all the difference. And,
in some respects, that’s the saddest thing about this story.