Florida DREAMer Whines Her Way to Deferred Action; Works with Congress to Draft Amnesty Legislation

After 25 years on the patriotic immigration reform beat, I should be immune to the outrageous stories that feature ungrateful aliens demanding more entitlements. Unfortunately, I’m not.

For each of the ten years that various versions of the Dream Act have been defeated, reporters have subjected their readers to template stories, literally hundreds of thousands of them, which feature a supposedly brilliant student who aspires to a lofty profession like medicine or law at an elite university. But because the United States is so unforgiving in its treatment toward illegal immigrants, the alien can’t afford his tuition and therefore can’t continue his studies. The story always concludes that if America is denied his brilliance, we’ll all be losers. Recently, the aliens have trumpeted that they are going to “come out of the shadows” and “speak out” which in truth they’ve been doing for years.

Florida DREAMer Daniela Pelaez’s highly publicized story combines insult with injury and is an assault on every American’s sensibilities.

According to the Miami Herald , Pelaez is a North Miami High School senior who aspires to attend Yale University “to study cellular and molecular biology.” She has a 6.7 GPA. (Is 4.0 now “D”?) The story’s original version referred to Pelaez as class valedictorian but an alert reader pointed out in the online comments that Miami-Dade schools stopped recognizing valedictorians years ago. In systems where there are valedictorians, they are not named until graduation when all the grades are in.

Recently, Pelaez traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with her U.S. Representative David Rivera (R-Miami) to help him draft the STARS Act (Studying Toward Adjusted Residency Status). Given the “valedictorian” misrepresentation, who knows what “helping him draft” really means? But Pelaez could not be more out of the shadows than when she’s on Capitol Hill. [Daniela Pelaez Goes to Washington, by Erika Bolstad, Miami Herald, March 7, 2012]

Here’s how the Herald journalist described Paleaz’s involvement:

“On her trip, Pelaez helped draft the bill herself with both Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate.”

As bad as Congress is on immigration, I refuse to believe that a high school student is helping U. S. Representatives and Senators write amnesty legislation. Nevertheless, Pelaez’s carping resulted in her becoming now one of the thousands to whom the Department of Homeland Security awarded deferred action. Pelaez was originally ordered back to her native Columbia but, after her case became high visibility, she was granted a two year deferral. Fifteen years ago, Pelaez’s parents overstayed their tourist visa. [Valedictorian Facing Deportation Gets Stay in Florida, CNN News Wire, March 7, 2012]

Rivera’s STARS Act has zero chance of even getting to the House floor for a full vote let along becoming law.

Within a week, law flouting aliens and the bias journalism that endorses their presence could be put in their place. If ICE deported a select few of the most prominent aliens featured in the headlines then, frightened off by the prospects possibly being sent home, their protests would gradually diminish and, logically, there would be fewer stories to write.

Unfortunately, deporting loud mouthed aliens has less chance of happening  than Rivera’s bill does of passing.