SOB. I hear they have very good universities in Mexico City and Mexico needs doctors badly. If he stays in the U.S. this student will have to save his money and pay for college the same way most other average American students have to pay for it. There are smart teens all over the world so why should Americans have to educate them at our expense. The DREAM act was a sneaky idea from the beginning and in all fairness it should NOT be passed.

Greeley teen has the smarts but not the citizenship

Greeley Central student's illegal immgrant status hinders his hopes to go to college

Jakob Rodgers

Editor’s note: To protect the anonymity of the following Greeley Central student, his name has been changed in the story.

Juan and his youngest brother share a strong, deep bond — one punctuated by their ability to help each other.

It’s Juan’s job to make sure his 16-month-old brother stays upright and out of trouble. The toddler returns the favor by always managing to put a wide smile on Juan’s face.

But the two brothers have very different lives ahead of them — lives defined by the citizenship papers the toddler possesses and the illegal immigrant status that Juan holds.

The difference hit Juan hardest these past two years, he said. Despite superb test scores and aspirations to become a doctor, he realized that attending college would be among the most difficult tasks he has faced.

But Juan’s dream of higher education has failed to fade, despite the failure of a bill in the Colorado Legislature on April 6 that would have allowed illegal immigrants to attend colleges and universities in the state at the same tuition rate in-state residents pay. Currently, illegal immigrants can attend college, but only by paying nonresident tuition rates that can range from 100 percent to 560 percent higher than in-state tuition.

Juan’s dream began to take root nearly 11 years ago when he came to this country illegally.

Hope for a better life
Making only 500 pesos — or $50 — a week at a furniture manufacturing plant in the late 1990s in Mexico City, Juan’s father originally sought to stay in the United States only for two years — long enough to earn the necessary money so that he could return to Mexico and build a house for his family.

Citizenship papers were out of the question, he said, because of the costs. Applications to apply for a work visa cost more than $1,000, according to Jeff Joseph, an immigration lawyer in Denver.

So Juan’s father ventured into the United States through the Arizona desert in May 1997. Fifteen months later, the rest of the family followed — a decision they said was spurred by increasing gang activity in their neighborhood and abusive teachers.

Climbing into a van on Aug. 13, 1998, Juan, then 7, his mother and another little brother, then 3, traveled together through a border checkpoint with nothing but each other.

No visas, no passports, no papers.

It was a strategy that occasionally proved useful at the time. Joseph, a lawyer at Joseph Law Firm, said that prior to Sept. 11, 2001, it was not unheard of for border patrol agents to wave people through the border despite the lack of proper identification.

The only person to be detained by the border patrol agents, Juan said, was his uncle, who was of working age.

“It was just kind of like a rush job,â€