Thread: We the People; Children of illegal immigrants not aware of t

We the People; Children of illegal immigrants not aware of their status may get chance to become citizens

NBC News Transcripts
SHOW: NBC Nightly News
July 31, 2009 Friday
DAVID GREGORY, LORI MONTENEGRO

DAVID GREGORY, anchor:

We are back now with our ongoing series WE THE PEOPLE and a look at young people fighting to keep their dreams alive. Many of them have been living in the US since they were young, and even though they may have done all the right things, they suddenly find out they cannot stay here. But there's a bill in Congress that could change that. The story from Lori Montenegro of our Spanish language network, Telemundo.

LORI MONTENEGRO reporting:

All his life, Noe Guzman felt like any other American child in New Haven, Missouri.

Mr. NOE GUZMAN: I was raised here. I don't know anything of Mexico.

MONTENEGRO: Noe's mother brought him illegally from Mexico to the United States at the age of four, though it wasn't until he was 17 and tried to enlist in the military that he found out he was undocumented.

Mr. GUZMAN: He told me that my Social Security wasn't real, if it had--it belonged to somebody else that was already in the military and had passed away. I was shocked.

MONTENEGRO: His dreams of becoming a doctor were shattered.

Mr. GUZMAN: It just shut me down completely.

MONTENEGRO: Now fearing deportation, Noe and others like him are rallying around a new bipartisan bill called the Dream Act...

Unidentified Woman: What do we want?

Group of People: (In unison) Dream Act!

MONTENEGRO: ...that would allow undocumented students to remain in the United States and attend public colleges and universities at in-state tuition prices. Most importantly, it could provide a path to legal residency. Advocates say the bill would help 360,000 undocumented young people who must have good moral character and earn at least a two-year degree or enlist in the armed services to qualify.

Mr. GASTON CAPERTON (College Board President): It's an investment. I think they'll get that money back many times because of the high earning rate that a--that a student will have having a college education.

MONTENEGRO: This is the fifth time the Dream Act has been introduced here on Capitol Hill over the past eight years, but this time, with the White House and Congress controlled by Democrats, supporters hope the bill will pass.

Offscreen Voice #1: U-S-A!

MONTENEGRO: Not everyone agrees.

Mr. STEVEN CAMAROTA (Center for Immigration Studies): Does it really make sense to legalize thousands, or hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, so then they can go to college at taxpayer subsidized rates?

MONTENEGRO: In the meantime, Noe is writing his congressman to plead his case.

Mr. GUZMAN: The Dream Act actually gives me a new insight. It's an inspiration for me. It pushes me to go to the limit and achieve it.

MONTENEGRO: His high school graduation this year was bittersweet because, while he reaches one dream, another one remains on hold.

Offscreen Voice #2: Noe Guzman.

MONTENEGRO: Lori Montenegro, NBC News, Washington.

GREGORY: And when we come back on this Friday evening, the sure-footed friends making a difference for America's wounded warriors.

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/En ... 5&start=10

*sniffle sniffle* Please pass the tissues

MONTENEGRO: Noe's mother brought him illegally from Mexico to the United States at the age of four, though it wasn't until he was 17 and tried to enlist in the military that he found out he was undocumented.

Mr. GUZMAN: He told me that my Social Security wasn't real, if it had--it belonged to somebody else that was already in the military and had passed away. I was shocked.

Shocked that your mother is a criminal thief and that she lied to you all these years! Go back to mexico and take your illegal invader mother with you!

Americans are simply tired of your SOB stories. We have heard them all before and we're not swayed by them. Why is it everytime we hear one of these stories, the illegal invader kid always wants to be a doctor? LOL, as if we are missing out on something wonderful by not giving in to their demands! More propaganda!

Bye bye now!

He came here when he was 4. Either he has psych problems or he remembers living in Mexico and was only shocked that the military did not turn a blind eye.

I do feel compassion for the children of illegals born here and/or brought here by their parents. Their parents are guilty of child abuse, the parents knew that the day could come when their children might be deported. In the interim their children got the best health care, education, social services and welfare that American tax payer money could buy.

The illegals cheated the American people and hurt their children. However sad it is, the American people are not responcible for their children.

We must take care of our own familes and children.

The Dream is to gain citizenship and then legalize his whole extended family.

Who in their right mind would give any amount to a charity if the law required then to give at least as much or more to 100 more charities?