Hope for my undocumented students

The news from the Obama administration today is very hopeful. As one of my undocumented students said, "it is an awesome start." Today, Obama has done something right for education. He has offered work visas to good students, age 16-30, who have been law abiding citizens of this country, and who are more American in culture than Latin. I think ICE will be overwhelmed with the number of young talented Latin students who apply for the work visa amnesty.

I have written about my undocumented student before, and my opinion now is no different. These students are our country's future, and they must be embraced and brought out of the shadows. Many of them are more deserving than American born students. The last step that needs to occur is providing undocumented students the rights to in-state tuition for college, so they have the same opportunities as their peers. Currently 12 states, including California and Texas allow undocumented students to attain in-state rates. Wisconsin has revoked their law (what the hell is going on WI?). Most recently, Colorado, a state with a growing Latino population, and an important battleground state in the upcoming election, has followed Texas and California by granting students an adjusted in-state rate.

These students have earned and deserve the right to be law abiding citizens like everyone else. Obama talks of bending the arc of history, of changing the course of history and doing something new. Finally, he is living up to, in at least one way, his rhetoric.