Thread: Deportees get sympathy, unless they're Mexican

Navarette is at it again. I haven't seen any sympathy for Arthur Mkoyan and his family in this forum. Illegal is illegal...period. Another lame attempt to play the race card.

Deportees get sympathy, unless they're Mexican
By Ruben Navarrette Jr.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008


SAN DIEGO — Let me say a few words in defense of deporting illegal immigrants. I wouldn't have thought such a defense necessary, since being in the U.S. without proper documents is a crime and the penalty is deportation.

Try telling that to the folks in Central California who are experiencing warm and fuzzy feelings for 17-year-old Arthur Mkoyan. The high school valedictorian in my hometown of Fresno should be thinking about the same things other graduating seniors think about this time of year — planning to go to college, going to parties and all the rest.

Arthur has certainly earned it. He studied hard to earn a perfect grade-point average. And, for his hard work, he was admitted to the UC Davis, where he planned to study chemistry.

And yet, Arthur will probably never make it to freshman orientation. June 20, the extension of his deportation order will expire and federal immigration authorities will likely apprehend the young man and his mother and send them to Armenia. His father is being held in an Arizona detention facility until he can be deported. There is also Arthur's 12-year-old brother, a U.S.-born citizen. The family plans to take him with them.

According to The Fresno Bee, Arthur's father came to the U.S. from the former Soviet Union in December 1991, seeking political asylum. Arthur and his mother joined him a few years later. No one came with the proper documents. When their asylum application was rejected, and their appeals were denied, they were targeted for deportation.

That is as it should be. The law is the law.

Still, it's a heartbreaking story. Here you have an all-American kid who hasn't seen Armenia since he was a toddler, and who is now headed to a country where the people, language and customs are foreign to him. Besides, this is precisely the kind of young person we should want to keep in this country.

Many people are going to bat for Arthur — from Armenian advocacy groups to Republican Rep. George Radanovich, who represents part of the Central Valley and has many Armenian constituents. The family has also approached Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein hoping she'll introduce a rare measure to grant legal status to a specific individual. There's also plenty of support for the young man on the Internet and on talk radio.

Not that it is likely to do any good. Arthur and his parents will probably be deported. As they should be.

I said the same thing six years ago when a similar story surfaced. In August 2002, The Denver Post ran a front-page story about Jesus Apodaca, a recent high school graduate with a 3.93 grade-point average who wanted to go to the University of Colorado but couldn't afford the tuition — because he was an illegal immigrant. In Colorado, the undocumented have to pay out-of-state tuition rates, which are higher than those for residents. A member of Congress involved himself in that case as well, albeit in a different capacity. Anti-illegal immigration crusader Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., called what was then the Immigration and Naturalization Service and asked it what it was planning to do about Apodaca. The young man and his family were apprehended and, last we heard, were slated for deportation.

Here's the part that bothers me: I wonder why more of them — including Tancredo — aren't making a fuss over Arthur Mkoyan. The fact is, Jesus didn't get nearly the amount of public sympathy that Arthur has received up to now.

Why the double standard? I believe it's because, while Arthur may not have a leg to stand on legally, he at least has the benefit of not being Mexican. Much of the immigration debate is fueled by a fear of a changing culture, competing languages, an altered landscape, and what loopy Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist calls the "colonization" of the United States by Mexican immigrants.

Arthur Mkoyan isn't considered a party to any of that. For some people, that makes all the difference. And, in some respects, that's the saddest thing about this story.

— Ruben Navarrette writes for the San Diego Union Tribune. His e-mail address is ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.

http://tinyurl.com/5aelbn

Maybe Arthur is getting more sympathy because he is valedictorian, intelligent, wants to contribute to society and wants to be somone successful. This is polar opposite from what most of the IA's in our country are right now..... This isn't too hard to figure out.

Navarette has a valid point but I would be in favor of deporting both of them.

I am sorry I think Arthur should be deported. Sen. Feinstein is wrong in trying to do an end-run around immigration enforcement by introducing a private bill.

Arthur should go home to Armenia and work to make that a better country. He has exhausted his appeals -- time to leave.

Yeah in all fairness this guy needs to go too. Illegal is illegal. Sorry Ruben. Go find another pot to stir.

Originally Posted by Richard

Navarette has a valid point but I would be in favor of deporting both of them.

I agree, with a couple of comments. I'm pretty sure Mikoyan and Apodaca will make fine men and would make a fine citizens. But the fact of the matter is, we have a queue and they were shoved to the front of it -- ahead of deserving others -- citizens in fact -- kids with 4.0 GPAs -- perhaps some without parents -- or handicapped -- and perhaps some truly deserving of asylum. I wonder where, in Feinstein's constitution, it permits the congress to enact esoteric laws like this one. And I wonder where Navarrette's loyalties are that he would endorse lying, stealing and otherwise breaking immigration laws. After a long career with the Dallas Morning News Reuben revealed himself as a Mexican first with America not even on the long list.

Idiosyncratic I think

According to The Fresno Bee, Arthur's father came to the U.S. from the former Soviet Union in December 1991, seeking political asylum. Arthur and his mother joined him a few years later. No one came with the proper documents. When their asylum application was rejected, and their appeals were denied, they were targeted for deportation.

They atleast asked for political assylum and filed what they needed to file to become legal or atleast try to. Even after that.....which note is years......their request was denied. They didn't try and pass off phony documents or assume a different identity.....from the sounds of it they tried to be on the up and up with everything and went through whatever process was asked. Assylum isn't immigration or the same as illegal immigration. Those Mexican police officers came here asking for assylum because of the killings and the drug cartels. Right from jump street they asked for assylum. They didn't buy phony documents, sneek across the border and all the rest. Assylum is no guarentee they will say yes, but they were atleast honest enough to come out and do it right from the start. They know who they are, where they are, they don't have to hide in the shadows, I doubt very seriously they would do anything illegal now in order to not ruin their chances. Doesn't guarentee a yes.....but they deserve a better shot than the others just waiting for the blanket amnesty for all. That's the difference. Has nothing to do with being Mexican or not.

People fearing for their life and asking for help is alot different than demanding jobs, rights, and all the rest while they break laws and continue to break laws.

The reason Tancredo and others aren't jumping to aid the Russian family is because they were denied. It's the law. It's not who has the best sob story wins. There are good people who are told no.....not everyone who wants to come here can. There is an outpouring of sympathy because maybe they were good people......they aren't jumping any wagons trying to say the are above the law......they aren't playing a race card.....it's a devistating no and people are dissappointed. We aren't without feeling or compassion for decent people. Not to mention......they learned English and adapted to this country.......how many illegals can say that?

Why the double standard?

Where's LaRaza marching in the streets for immigrant rights? Lets see.....they aren't Mexican?

The fact is, Jesus didn't get nearly the amount of public sympathy that Arthur has received up to now.

Jesus probably didn't get any public sympathy because too many illegal Mexicans were out there DEMANDING it, degrading Americans, calling us names.......not the environment for sympathy.

Many people are going to bat for Arthur — from Armenian advocacy groups to Republican Rep. George Radanovich, who represents part of the Central Valley and has many Armenian constituents.

And there are no Latino groups who go to bat for the Latino deportee's? PLEASE!! Cry me a river.

I feel for this kid and his brother, but in the same sense as the Latino and other illegal aliens, they need to look to their parents for doing what they did, that put their lives in a tenuous situation in the first place.

Navarette just wants to pick straws to try to have a reason to whine (want a little cheese with that whine, Navarette?).