Juan makes a compelling argument for why we should all lobby our federal elected officials to pass the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for kids who came here when they were young, did well in school, and were continuing on to college. Also, we should lobby for in-state tuition at state university systems for undocumented immigrants (Florida already has this, I think).

There’s something in me that says his story is very moving, but if he is here illegally there is really no law on the books that says it’s OK for him to stay just because he has an emotional connection with growing up American. His parents had 12 years to try to legalize their status and their son’s status, which is difficult but not impossible. Also, I have actually known quite a few people who are technically “illegal” who managed to attend and graduate from college without any real threat of deportation, and people who hired immigration lawyers and successfully legalized their status. How did his parents immigrate here? They they overstay their visa? A decade ago, before 9/11, it was much easier to try to stabilize your legal situation than it is now, I’d like to hear more about this person’s story. I do think he should be allowed to stay, but and many people do get their status legalized or stabilized for “humanitarian” reasons, he would be a good candidate for this sort of thing. Being Colombian could work against him, immigration policies vary greatly by nation of origin. I’m rambling here, but there are many things about this video that I did not like. Who exactly were the people telling him he would be “deported”? Are they immigration officials, or are they just people he knows? Casual freinds and acquaintances tend not to know someone’s immigration status, and a lot of places like schools, etc, are not really allowed to ask immigration status now. And isn’t Florida filled with Cubans and Dominicans and other Latin American immigrants? Again, my point here is that he wouldn’t be getting “deported” if he was not in the country illegally, which could have been fixed during the 12 years prior to him turing 18, and is not necessarily some status he has to have forever, it’s fixable, it’s not some awful tragedy.