Some Call Her an Illegal, We Call Her an American!

What kind of nation have we come to be?  A high school senior, valedictorian of her graduating class of 823 students, sister to a man serving in the US military (tours in Iraq and Afghanistan)… is being ordered to go back to a country she has not seen in fourteen years?

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/02/miami-valedictorian-fighting-deportation/?hpt=hp_t2

At age four, Daniela Palaez came to America with her parents from Colombia.  Attending public school from elementary through high school, she has been diligent in achieving success by way of her work ethic in her studies.  Her goal: to attend a top university with a cellular and molecular biology degree.  And being the valedictorian of her class, top universities are well within her grasp.

But other plans are now in action.  A Miami immigration judge has ruled that Palaez is to be deported to a country that cannot be called home, because Daniela does not remember much at all of the place.  Daniela Palaez has earned herself an American education, elementary through high school—an education that is geared toward making people better and more educated citizens.  Throughout our nation’s history, from the time of our Founding Fathers to today, the goals of public education have remained clear that the public school system’s primary focus is to create educated, moral, hard working American citizens with a sound understanding of our government’s workings and their own understanding of their civic duty and responsibility… Why then, would we bring up a student who has been conditioned to be a morally responsible, hard working citizen only to force her removal from the country that has invest so much in her education?

Make no mistake here.  Daniela Palaez and her brother, who serves this country with honor, are ever more citizens of this nation than many who have been fortunate enough to be born on the right side of an invisible line.  Where many natural citizens disregard the fundamental principles of this great nation, Daniela is proving to uphold the greatest tradition of this country—that America was created and built by immigrants that came here to better their lives through hard work and education.

That is why we of the 100 Million March, endorse legislation that would give citizenship to those people that have earned it through upholding the tradition that this great nation was built upon.  Citizenship should be awarded to hard working people that have spent their lives in public education from elementary school through high school, with completion of either a collegiate degree or military service afterwards.  

People like Daniela, who have spent more than three-quarters of her life being an active citizen of this country, who wishes to go on to a top university to major in the human sciences, should be given what has been earned—legal citizenship.

Daniela Palaez and her brother should be held as honorable examples.  And we at 100 Million March commend them.

We will continue to fight for legislation that supports the notion that citizenship can be earned.  That just reward will be given to those that deserve it by serving our country and being upstanding individuals. 

Let our government know!  That our country must remember its roots!

Citizenship should be granted to those that complete a public education, and either a collegiate degree or military service afterwards!