Thread: Need some help in Champaign, Illinois

After several letters to the editor in the local paper were printed informing people about this bill, letters have started in support of the bill. If anyone, especially those in the area or in Illinois has time please complain and/or send a letter to the editor at the information below.

Then a sympathetic article appears in the paper. The article fails to have any criticism for the illegal alien slapping another child. Nor does the article state that the arrests in Little Village were prompted by an ID theft ring associated with a Mexican crime family
This article explains that raid.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... ness_N.htm

A letter to the editor will only be printed once per address per month, so I cannot get another printed complaining about this article. I have sent in my complaints though.

Letters to the editor can be sent here.
http://www.news-gazette.com/editorial/
complaints can go here:
http://www.news-gazette.com/feedback/

The article is here.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/ ... ain_future

Undocumented students face uncertain future
By Christine J. Won
Monday June 18, 2007

A game of dodgeball last semester in physical education class turned foul when a boy screamed, "Protect the border! Protect the border! Kill those Mexicans!"

Maria Flores, a senior at Urbana High School, said she walked up to him and told him to say it to her face again. Then she slapped him.

"I was so mad I had tears in my eyes," she said.,

Since Maria and her family came to the United States illegally from Mexico City in April 2004, Maria has struggled to be a regular student attending high school. In the fall of 2006, her father was deported when her mother was eight months pregnant with Maria's brother. Maria asked that her parents not be identified.

The 17-year-old wants to go to Parkland College after graduation. How she will pay for her college education, her family does not know. According to them, she will have to work before she can enroll in the fall.

Maria's face shows her dimples when she talks about the things she loves, such as her dreams of being an archaeologist. When she talks about the ruins of the Aztecs and Mayans, her voice fills with pride for Mexico and its culture.

"If you can see one of these ruins, you will fall in love," she said. "They are amazing."

But while most seniors in high school are worrying about graduation and college applications, Maria's future holds too many unanswered questions.

"I don't know if I can go to college or not – there's too many issues," she said. "I know my illegal status is a problem because it's very difficult to go to college without papers. I can get scholarships but not from the government, but I don't know where is the right place or the right person to talk to."

Reo Wilhour, associate director of admissions at Parkland College, said undocumented students can attend Parkland if they meet three requirements under state law.

To be eligible, students must have attended high school for at least three years and graduated. During that time, they must have lived with their parents who worked and lived in the district. The parents must sign an affidavit promising to apply for legal status as soon as they're eligible to do so.

Keith Marshall, an associate provost at the University of Illinois, said undocumented students also can apply to the UI. "University of Illinois does not consider the status of a student, whether they are documented or undocumented aliens," he said. "So they can submit an application like any other student."

A student's legal residence is not factored into the admission process other than in determining in-state or out-of-state tuition, Marshall said.

He thinks so few undocumented students attend universities because they cannot apply for federal student aid, which requires a Social Security number. "It presents a challenge to a lot of people to attend universities without any form of financial aid or inability to work or make money," Marshall added.

Maria has not yet applied to Parkland or for any scholarships. She plans to ask her guidance counselor at Urbana High School, Samuel Furrer, and university students from La Casa Cultural Latina for help.

Because Maria failed a few classes, she took Recapture, an after-school program for students who are not meeting graduation requirements.

After all the make-up work, Maria was able to finish her work and graduate with her class, and with her family watching proudly on May 27.

Though Urbana has seen an influx of elementary-age Spanish speakers, Furrer said he hasn't seen many yet at the high school level. However, Furrer said, the school has had non-native speakers "who don't have great English skills, and they have applied to college, and they have gotten in, and they have done fine."

Waunita Kinoshita, the only English as a Second Language teacher at the high school, had Maria in her class since Maria started at Urbana High. She said Maria was shy and quiet in the beginning but became more confident as she practiced talking with other students.

But Maria feels a barrier between herself and the other students at school who do not know about her family problems at home. "I don't have friends at school," she said. "I talk with everybody and have a lot of conversations, but not friends."

When she first arrived, Maria said she was frustrated because she could not express or defend herself or Mexico when other kids made fun of her or of her native country.

"It's really difficult when you move from one place to another," Maria said. "It's even more difficult when you move from a place to a different country with different language and different people."

One of the biggest shocks was the drop in her grades.

"In Mexico, I was 'smart,'" Maria said, smiling. "Really good student. When I came here (to the United States), all my grades dropped."

One of the few pictures from Mexico that Maria has now is one of her in sixth grade. She and five other classmates are standing tall, each proudly wearing a crisp white and blue uniform. It was a great honor, she said, to participate in this weekly ceremony where the students would gather on the patio and sing a hymn. As the student with the highest test scores, Maria said, she got to hold the Mexican flag.

Her mom, noticing the picture on the table one spring evening, picked it up and looked at it fondly. Maria translated that her mom, who speaks almost no English, said she was always proud of Maria because every time she'd go to talk with Maria's teachers, they would tell her what a good student she was.

Maria finished ninth grade in Mexico and came to the United States with two months of the school year left. After two months of school, she went on summer break and started her sophomore year of high school in the fall of 2004.

Maria said she failed a few classes, such as world history and physical science, in her first full school year in the U.S.

"I didn't understand anything the teacher was saying," she said. "Other students laughed at that. It was not fun. I can't defend or protect myself. I can't do anything. That was really sad because you can't do anything. Not because you can't, but because you don't know how to do it."

Maria also lost her self-confidence.

"I can't feel sure to be in front of the class because I feel embarrassed," Maria said. "It's not the same thing, talking to one person who will be more understanding of my mistakes."

She said in Mexico she loved to sit in front of the class, to speak in front of people in Spanish. In Mexico she had taken a few English classes as a foreign language course.

"Last year in my speech class, I almost cried a few times because I can't express myself," Maria said. "I missed a lot of words and expressions."

Maria's confidence grew when she began to pick up more English from school, television and books.

Now she is the president of the Latin American club at school and participates in marches, such as the one on May 1, rallying for illegal immigrants' rights. She also helps translate for other students. In her pre-algebra class one April morning, Maria explained a math problem to a classmate in Spanish.

Maria is passionate about Mexico and about the current legal debate involving immigrants illegally crossing at the border.

"This country was founded by immigrants," Maria said. "(But Mexicans) are treated like criminals. Maybe the crime is trying to have a better life.

"Some people say (illegal Mexican immigrants) came to this country to take away others' opportunities," she said. "But they don't know us. They don't know about our problems. We came to be free. They don't know we pay taxes but can't get back the money."

As she talked, her big brown eyes reddened.

"There is a lot of discrimination here, and it's hard to live in a culture like that," she said. "That's also why I want to be an archaeologist. Not only because I love it, but because I want people to know where my culture came from."

Maria said she misses Mexico.

"In Mexico, I was free," she said. "I'm not here. I watch everything but I can't go anywhere."

"I have everything around me but I can't get it."

She is worried because she does not know what will happen after high school. She does know that she does not want to be "like everybody else," she said, referring to the other illegal immigrants who work in construction or at factories or restaurants.

Maria saw what it was like inside a U.S. factory in the summer of 2005.

"That changed me. That really moved my heart," she said. "Because I saw how (the factory workers) were working really hard, how our parents are working really hard for us. I saw really old people working there, and I don't want my parents to become like that."

This is Maria's drive to succeed. "Lo que no te mata, te hace mas fuerte," she said, which means, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."

Maria knows her future is riddled with difficulties.

One Sunday in April, Maria went to Chicago to buy her prom dress. The following Tuesday, federal police raided a shopping plaza in Little Village, the heart of Chicago's Mexican community.

"I was there," she said. "That could have been me."

Maria said obstacles always seem like the hardest thing at the time, but she believes she'll overcome them.

"Because I know myself," Maria said. "And I know when I want to do something, I don't care what will happen or what I will lose, I will do it."

News-Gazette staff writer Amy F. Reiter contributed to this report.

I think some of us can assist you.

Dixie

Maria needs some awakening herself. She and her family broke our
laws by coming here illegally. She doesn't deserve any of our sympathy
or help. She needs to be deported along with all the rest of them.
She also has fond memories of Mexico and remains loyal to the country
even though they came to U.S. What I don't understand is why she
contiues to stay here if she misses Mexico so much and feels so
miserable here. She should blame her parents for bringing her here,
not U.S. for her being here illegally!

Send the illegals and their anchor babies back home!!!!!

They are criminals!!!!