By Fabiola Santiago
fsantiago@MiamiHerald.com
No justice, none at all, was delivered this week when a federal
immigration judge denied 18-year-old Daniela Pelaez, the valedictorian
at North Miami Senior High School, her application for U.S. residency
and put her on a deportation track.
The case has once again catapulted to the national spotlight the need to protect these children who, through no fault of their own, have ended up living in this country without legal residency status and are now, for all practical purposes, Americans.
Pelaez, born in Colombia, was brought to the United States by her parents when she was 4. The Pelaezes overstayed their tourist visa, seeking to build a better life here for their children, and they’ve paid plenty for that decision. The mother, Ana Gonzalez, had to separate from the family and return to Colombia in 2006 to get treatment for colon cancer and is not allowed to return.
But the children, who stayed with the father, are not only thriving but also giving back to their adopted country.
Pelaez’s older brother, Johan, has served in the Army for two years and did a tour in Afghanistan last year; he became a U.S. citizen and was able to obtain residency for his father. Only Daniela and her older sister, Dayana, remain without a means to legalize their status.
This is the only country Daniela Pelaez has known — and she has done plenty with the opportunity to live here. She has the highest GPA, 6.7, of her graduating class, as well the highest scores in the ACT college entrance exam. She’s a QuestBridge Scholar, a recognition and scholarship given to exceptional students who have excelled despite their socio-economic status, and she wants to be a heart surgeon.
But that dream will be farther from reach without residency status.
Not only does she face the constant threat of deportation, but even if the government does not act on that order, Pelaez must pay out-of-state tuition rates that are four times higher than the already pricey cost to Florida residents.
The increasingly conservative — and foolish — Florida Legislature had the opportunity this session to allow worthy Florida high school graduates like Pelaez to pay in-state tuition rates. But while they approved demagogic bills aimed at bringing back prayer in schools and sought to curtail legal abortions, legislators refused to grant true humanitarian relief to children who are already here and could have a promising future.
Some 192,000 Florida students could have had a better shot at an education, but the prayer-happy Legislature would rather monitor the coming together of eggs and sperm.
It’s heartbreaking to hear these young people speak of their love for this country, and the humiliation they feel at being rejected.
“I consider myself an American no matter what,” Pelaez said.
“Criminals have more rights now than I do.... I’m a good person, I know I am.”
She is a special person.
What parent wouldn’t want Daniela Pelaez as a daughter?
What state, what country wouldn’t want her as a resident, a citizen?
Only one in which right-wing fanaticism and xenophobia trump common sense and justice.
The case has once again catapulted to the national spotlight the need to protect these children who, through no fault of their own, have ended up living in this country without legal residency status and are now, for all practical purposes, Americans.
Pelaez, born in Colombia, was brought to the United States by her parents when she was 4. The Pelaezes overstayed their tourist visa, seeking to build a better life here for their children, and they’ve paid plenty for that decision. The mother, Ana Gonzalez, had to separate from the family and return to Colombia in 2006 to get treatment for colon cancer and is not allowed to return.
But the children, who stayed with the father, are not only thriving but also giving back to their adopted country.
Pelaez’s older brother, Johan, has served in the Army for two years and did a tour in Afghanistan last year; he became a U.S. citizen and was able to obtain residency for his father. Only Daniela and her older sister, Dayana, remain without a means to legalize their status.
This is the only country Daniela Pelaez has known — and she has done plenty with the opportunity to live here. She has the highest GPA, 6.7, of her graduating class, as well the highest scores in the ACT college entrance exam. She’s a QuestBridge Scholar, a recognition and scholarship given to exceptional students who have excelled despite their socio-economic status, and she wants to be a heart surgeon.
But that dream will be farther from reach without residency status.
Not only does she face the constant threat of deportation, but even if the government does not act on that order, Pelaez must pay out-of-state tuition rates that are four times higher than the already pricey cost to Florida residents.
The increasingly conservative — and foolish — Florida Legislature had the opportunity this session to allow worthy Florida high school graduates like Pelaez to pay in-state tuition rates. But while they approved demagogic bills aimed at bringing back prayer in schools and sought to curtail legal abortions, legislators refused to grant true humanitarian relief to children who are already here and could have a promising future.
Some 192,000 Florida students could have had a better shot at an education, but the prayer-happy Legislature would rather monitor the coming together of eggs and sperm.
It’s heartbreaking to hear these young people speak of their love for this country, and the humiliation they feel at being rejected.
“I consider myself an American no matter what,” Pelaez said.
“Criminals have more rights now than I do.... I’m a good person, I know I am.”
She is a special person.
What parent wouldn’t want Daniela Pelaez as a daughter?
What state, what country wouldn’t want her as a resident, a citizen?
Only one in which right-wing fanaticism and xenophobia trump common sense and justice.
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