Undocumented Harvard Student Faces Deportation

[one...two...tree 2,762]

AP

An undocumented Harvard University student is facing deportation to Mexico after being detained by immigration authorities at a Texas airport, the students said Friday.

Eric Balderas, 19, who just completed his first year at Harvard, said he was detained Monday by immigration authorities when he tried to board a plane from his hometown of San Antonio to Boston using a consulate card from Mexico and his student ID.

"I'd made it through before so I thought this time wouldn't be any different," Balderas said Friday in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "But once ICE picked me up I really didn't know what to think and I was starting to break down."

Balderas, who previously had used a Mexican passport to board planes but recently lost it, said he became despondent and thought he was being deported to Mexico immediately, only to be released the next day. He said he has a scheduled July 6 immigration hearing.

"All I can think about was my family," said Balderas, who doesn't remember living in Mexico.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Mark Medvesky, confirmed that Balderas was released and said his hearing will likely be in Boston.

Harvard officials immediately threw support behind Balderas.

"Eric Balderas has already demonstrated the discipline and work ethic required for rigorous university work, and has, like so many of our undergraduates, expressed an interest in making a difference in the world," said Christine Heenan, Harvard's vice president of public affairs and communications.

The case also sparked a buzz on social media sites and among student immigrant activists who see the Balderas situation as the ideal test case to push the proposed DREAM act — a federal bill that would allow illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship via college enrollment or military service.

Mario Rodas, who was an undocumented student in the Boston suburb of Chelsea until the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and U.S. Sen. John Kerry came to his aid, launched a Facebook page Friday highlighting the Balderas case.

"He's an excellent student and an example of someone this country needs," Rodas said.

The page said that Balderas was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by his family at age 4 to escape a domestic violence situation.

A feature in the San Antonio Express-News last year said the graduate of Highlands High School in San Antonio was accepted into several small liberal arts colleges but chose to attend Harvard, where he has a full scholarship.

Balderas said he is studying molecular and cellular biology at Harvard and hopes to become a cancer researcher. He said he qualified for Harvard's privately funded scholarship package.

"I'm a private person so this is a change for me," he said.

In March, Balderas was one of hundreds of undocumented students to publicly announce his immigration status during a nationally organized "coming out" day for illegal immigrants.

Balderas also has been an active member of student immigrant groups around Boston that have staged protests and sit-ins in an effort to get U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) to support the DREAM Act.

Brown has not said whether he supports the proposal, also called the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The bill is sponsored by Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar and Democratic Sen. ####### Durbin, of Illinois.

In April, Lugar and Durbin sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, asking her to halt deportations of immigrant students who could earn legal status under the act.

A number of college presidents have supported the legislation, including Harvard President Drew Faust, who sent a letter to Kerry and Kennedy urging them to pass it.

Kyle de Beausset, a Boston-based student activist and a friend of Balderas, said student activists are ready to rally behind him.

http://www.npr.org/t...349&ft=1&f=1014

[Darnell 8,478]

Oh cool. I hope ICE applies the CURRENT LAW, and not some bill that has no success in getting passed into a future law.

He's here illegally, it's time to go back to Mexico, taking his parents in San Antonio with him.

[tmma 467]

Just because he is availing hinself of one of our Universities, does not exempt him from immigration laws. Send him home, make him get s student visa. Prob solved.

[luckytxn 2,264]

This criminal needs to be deported right away. It is a shame that his parents were criminals and instilled in their own kid the criminal mentality. A shame that so much was wasted on his eduacation that could have been better spent on a legal citizen.

[peejay 327]

This is just more sympathy propaganda from the open borders/amnesty crowd. Instead of blaming the USA for enforcing our long standing existing laws...this guy needs to blame whoever brought him here illegally in the first place. No...domestic violence in a foreign country is not an entry visa to illegally immigrate. The USA doesn't exist to rescue the world. Why do these people always throw this out there after they get caught? How come they didn't file for refugee status earlier? Because they would have been laughed out of court.

And also...I have relatives and friends that have lived in foreign countries on long termed work assignments with their children. The kids didn't remember much about the USA before being forced to return home. La-dee-dah! Somehow they survived the ordeal.

[Pooky 3,805]

Oh cool. I hope ICE applies the CURRENT LAW, and not some bill that has no success in getting passed into a future law.

He's here illegally, it's time to go back to Mexico, taking his parents in San Antonio with him.

Fact is he is here in contravention of current Federal law. The law as it stands says he should be deported. If the DREAM Act had already passed, it would be a different matter. But it hasn't.

The Law is clear. This is more a test of whether the Federal government will enforce the law, rather than change it.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Bye Bye kid. Time to go.

[SMOKE 1,426]

c ya. bye. GTFO! i call dibbs on his mini fridge.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Top Universities of Mexico

Here is a list of some of the top Universities in Mexico. These are some of the best Universities of Mexico. They are ranked according to the resources available and various other factors. These are recognized as quality institutions of higher education all over Mexico.

Universidad De Las Americas

Universidad Iberoamericana

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM)

Universidad de Quintana Roo

Universidad Popular Autonoma del Estado de Puebla

Universidad Popular de la Chontalpa

Universidad Veracruzana

Universidad Juarez del Estado de Durango

Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco

Westhill University

Endicott College

[mRx 16]

This is why there needs to be some flexibility in immigration law.

The kid has Harvard officials going to bat for him, so chances are he has something to offer this country.

[Pooky 3,805]

This is why there needs to be some flexibility in immigration law.

The kid has Harvard officials going to bat for him, so chances are he has something to offer this country.

And therefore, chances are he has something to offer the country of which he is a citizen, too.

[mRx 16]

And therefore, chances are he has something to offer the country of which he is a citizen, too.

Brain-drain immigration is a good thing for this country.

[Laveau 67]

And therefore, chances are he has something to offer the country of which he is a citizen, too.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Undocumented = Criminal

[tmma 467]

This is why there needs to be some flexibility in immigration law.

The kid has Harvard officials going to bat for him, so chances are he has something to offer this country.

He can only offer this country something if he is here legally and able to work/research/study on some kind of visa. Right now, he has nothing to offer. Nothing. He is here illegally. He needs to get a student visa and come on back legally. I don't see what's so complicated.

edit to add--Right now he is offering nothing and taking an education that he is NOT legally entitled to.

Edited June 12, 2010 by tmma