Mark Andrew Dwyer

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Originally published in the December 21, 2003 issue of the Alamance Independent

UNDOCUMENTED GRADUATES

December 22,2003

Imagine you studied diligently for years. You worked hard on your degree. You took and passed all the required courses, and submitted all the projects and term papers that were necessary to make you eligible for college diploma. Not everyone accomplished that. There were others, who were less prepared, less talented, or simply less diligent than you were, and they didn't make it. Well, that's the way it's supposed to be, at least for now. For if everyone who claimed it were conferred a college degree than the degree would have no more value than just a fancy ornament you can put on the wall in your bedroom. And that wouldn't help you much in finding a stable and good paying job to pay your bills and support your family.

So what would you think if someone came up with an idea of using the term "undocumented graduates" instead of "college dropouts"? What if all the students who attended their classes but did not qualify for a passing grade or were never admitted and paid no tuition fee were referred to as the "undocumented graduates"? What if all those who faked their degrees were also included in that category? What if someone went even further, demanding an end of presumably racist discrimination between "documented" (as you) and "undocumented" graduates, and insisted on calling them just "graduates"? And what if that someone called for "legalizing" all the "undocumented graduates" and awarding them actual college diplomas so that they could continue improving their lives (by holding jobs once reserved for actual graduates) and contributing to American economy? Sounds like a pure absurdity, doesn't it?

But that is exactly what's going on in the immigration domain. Millions of self-proclaimed "immigrants" pour into this country in defiance of America's border and her immigration laws as they please. No criteria of admission apply, except for the willingness of these "immigrants" to break the rules, no checks, no qualifications, no control whatsoever. It doesn't matter if one is smart and educated or illiterate and dumb. It doesn't matter if one is healthy or carries a deadly contagious disease. It doesn't matter if one has the ability to function in American society and to contribute to it or is a naturally born rebel, perpetual victim, or a prospective life recipient of welfare and other "free" public benefits. It even doesn't matter if one is an addicted lawbreaker or a decent person, although most of the law-abiding foreigners would have serious problems with skipping the border of violating our immigration laws.

The so-called "immigrant rights" organizations, like LULAC, MALDEF, MEChA, La Raza, MAPA, Drecheros Humanos, Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamerica, National Lawyers' Guild, and Southern Poverty Law, are exhibiting a high level of militancy when it comes to granting the "undocumented immigrants" the same status and privileges that actual immigrants enjoy in this country. They will make a lot of nonsensical noise just to blur the distinction between the "undocumented" and "documented" ones. They will fiercely attack anyone who dares to postulate that the "undocumented" be kept outside of the U.S. (their current weapon-word of choice is the epithet "racist") and threaten Americans with rebellion each time an attempt to summarily enforce all the immigration laws is made. And above all, they will demand that all the "undocumented immigrants" be given an American citizenship, or an equivalent thereof, for their breaking in to this country illegally, while millions of "suckers" patiently wait for their visas, and for defrauding legal residents of their jobs, living space, education, emergency healthcare, and natural resources, never mind taping to welfare, and other "free" public assistance programs, compliments of heavily taxed Americans.

The absurdity of this "undocumentedness" notion is further exacerbated by federal and local authorities' reaction to this devastating phenomenon of "undocumented immigration". They say that the percentage of the "undocumented immigrants" in American society is too high (and the so-called "immigrant communities" - an euphemism for pockets of "undocumented immigrants" - are too strong) to implement any meaningful enforcement of the immigration law. It's interesting what these authorities have to say to American citizens who object being left at the mercy of the "undocumented" hordes. As if they had any idea of who is coming, they say: "Vast majority of undocumented immigrants are good, hard-working people who will make good citizens once given a chance."

Yeah, right. Just like a vast majority of the "undocumented graduates" who were good students and would make good professionals once given credits for the courses they did not pass and college diplomas for the degree programs they were not admitted to.