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Deported student to finish degree

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By Tricia Remark | New Mexico Daily Lobo
Last updated: 12/13/09 7:58pm

A UNM graduate student is fighting to complete his master’s degree after he was deported in August.Immigration offcials arrested student “Juan Santiago” on campus this summer, Santiago said.

Santiago requested his name be changed to avoid repercussions as he tries to return to America.

Enrique Lamadrid, chairman of Spanish and Portuguese, said Santiago is not the only student who left UNM because of deportation issues. He said Santiago and another graduate student would have been teaching assistants this fall.

“We lost two graduate students in the Spanish department to deportationor threat of deportation,” Lamadrid said. “ ey were going to teach a total of 100 students. e ripple effects of this are bigger than might be first evident.”

Santiago said he got an undergraduate degree in University Studies from UNM and was halfway through his graduate degree in Spanish. He wanted to become a teacher in the U.S. or Canada.

After emigrating from Mexico when he was 16, Santiago said he bought a birth certificate so he could drive with a license. He planned to move with his wife and
brother to Canada after finishing a Ph.D. at UNM, he said. He applied for a passport with the birth certificate he bought, and, shortly after, immigration officials showed up at UNM to arrest him.

“They found out about the fraud, and that was the reason why the State Department went to UNM to deport me,” Santiago said. “They didn’t put me in prison because my record was clean, but they took me straight to immigration in El Paso and they took me to Juarez, where I currently live.”

Lamadrid said UNM is working with legislators to make an agreement with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement so officials don’t arrest students on campus. Albuquerque Public Schools have already adopted this policy.

Students being scared to come
to school because they might be deported
contributes to drop out rates,
Lamadrid said.

“We recognize (ICE has) the right to enforce the laws of this country.
We’re not contesting that,” he said. “They know where these people live in many cases, so why do they have to come to school? Deportation and fear of deportation are real concerns on the UNM campus.”

Santiago said the moment he was arrested on campus was shocking. “I have no idea why they went to UNM — they didn’t tell me why. They were just waiting outside of Ortega Hall to arrest me,” Santiago
said.

Lamadrid said UNM should be a place where students can get an education without worrying about ICE arresting them.

Patricia Lopategui, professor of Spanish and Portuguese, said ICE shouldn’t arrest students on campus because they are there to learn.

“Students should be protected in a place that is devoted to knowledge and becoming better human beings,” she said. “They way they took him — like a criminal — and not letting him go back to his house to take care of his business there, I think
that is awful. It speaks very badly about human rights in the U.S.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement doesn’t define when or where officials can arrest undocumented immigrants, according to the ICE Web site.

“Simply stated, DRO’s (Office of Detention and Removal) ultimate goal is to develop the capacity to identify and remove all removable aliens,” the site said.

Lopategui said Santiago was in three of her classes, and he was one of her best students.

“He was always so interested in all of the subjects,” Lopategui said. “He is a native speaker, of course, so he was more skilled with the language, but he never acted arrogant.

He was always there with his classmates to help when they were struggling with the class.”

Lamadrid said Santiago will probably get to complete his master’s at UNM. He said classes at a university in Juarez will allow Santiago get most of the credits he needs.

“We actually figured out a way to transfer courses and we’re hoping he can finish it, even though he can’t be physically here,” Lamadrid said.

Published December 13, 2009 in News

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59 comments

StewBone

December 13, 2009 at 10:16 PM
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By report,Santiago “bought “ a birth certificate. This is admission of guilt, have this interloper arrested, interrogated, and deported ASAP. ID theft is not a victimless crime and remains a threat to our National Security!
Good Bye, ASSHOLE

leslie

December 13, 2009 at 11:07 PM
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i find your commtent moraly repugant you don’ know any having to come from a place from were there only poverty.You don’t know what it means to her sufer all the discrimination there already is toward immigrant people. Yet this student is making something of himself he wants to be better.Just caues your born in the United States if you are means your supieror to other people.If you were in his situation you would probably do the same. How about you keep your judgemental comments to yourself.

Summerspeaker

December 14, 2009 at 6:37 AM
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A telling example of oppressive US immigration law. Deporting Santiago, particularly in such fashion, serves to keep us all in a state of fear. That’s the purpose of ICE. We’ve got to resist. If you see those thugs arresting someone, call for help and go interfere. If enough of us work together we can beat them. Campus should be a place of such solidarity that they give up even attempting attacks on immigrants here.

slowhike

December 14, 2009 at 7:24 AM
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You call the tune you pay the piper! I am amazed that they found this student and deported him; however, that’s what you are supposed to do with illegal immigrants. The law does not say you can immigrate illegally as long as you go to school. Illegal immigrants are not entitled to public schools. I wonder where the funds came from for Mr. Santiago to pay tuition. People who do not support deportation of illegal immigrants are an example of traitors and non-violent terrorists at UNM.

got visa?

December 14, 2009 at 8:22 AM
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Mr. Santiago did admit that he bought a forged birth certificate in order to by-pass the legal procedures that are established for non-citizens to live, work and go to school in the US. The lesson is not that ICE should not arrest people on campus if they are in the country illegally. The lesson is that Mr. Santiago and others should have jumped through the hoops and come in legally. Hundreds of foreign students at UNM don’t have to worry about ICE because they are here legally. UNM should not encourage students to come and stay with forged documentation. UNM should help foreign students navigate the process of gaining their visas and permits to be here legally. If there are parts of the process that are unduly difficult and/or expensive, it would make sense to lobby for reform in the immigration procedures, to make it more practical. But the ICE was right to arrest and deport Mr. Santiago, however good a student he might be. Hopefully he can return legally in the future and become an actual citizen if he wishes.

Damian

December 14, 2009 at 9:35 AM
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We are a nation of laws. However, it is ridiculous that we cannot see the potential benefit of Santiago’s hard work and his dedication to the American dream.

This is yet another individual, like our ancestors, who was willing to seek out a better life in the unknown only to find that dream squashed by the unreasonable officials of the state.

Firegazer1

December 14, 2009 at 6:31 PM
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It is nonsense to compare early American immigrants like “our ancestors” to illegal immigrants slipping over the border and stealing someones identity to benefit from our resources. Mr. Santiago should have used some of the energy he had for school in pursuit of legal citizenship. Coming to the USA now from Mexico is hardly a journey into the “unkonwn” either. Officials are not unreasonable, the culture, society and legal systems are made up of rules, without them we perish. Enforcing the law is there job, and to be quite honest they don’t go far enough in most cases. I wish Mr. Santiago well, but I would caution him against any further law breaking.

Damian

December 14, 2009 at 9:24 PM
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And illegal immigrants affect you how?

Any restrictions on immigration—large or small—trample the rights of both employers and job-seeking immigrants.

Read more …

To make this issue clear, put yourself in the place of an employer who has just interviewed two job applicants. The first is hard-working, talented, and ambitious. He has gone through enormous effort to obtain an education and to acquire the skills necessary for this job. He received excellent grades in school and high praise from his previous employers. More important, he has shown the courage to leave his home, to travel thousands of miles, to learn a new language and an unfamiliar culture—all to pursue his chosen career and to work for a better life.

The second applicant has no particular skills for the job you are offering; he expects you to train him. He never performed well in school. When his previous employer, in a different field, closed down, he did not try to acquire new talents or to move elsewhere to seek work. He expects new skills and a new job to be provided to him, with no need for any initiative on his part.

Which applicant would you hire? Clearly, the first one, because he will be more productive for you. Hiring him would be an act of justice: It would reward the one who has worked harder to improve himself.Under our current immigration laws, however, you would be told that you cannot hire the first man and that you must hire the second—because the second is a native of this country and the first isn’t. Wouldn’t you consider this an intrusion on your right to choose the best worker for your company—and on the worker’s right to take the best job he is offered? Wouldn’t you consider it a crude injustice to punish a man of greater ability and initiative merely because he is not “one of us”? Yet this is precisely what America’s immigration laws require.

Defenders of those laws often argue that increased immigration is a drain on the American taxpayer, who will have to finance additional welfare payments. But this is just a smokescreen. If the anti-immigrationists truly oppose parasitism, why is it somehow more acceptable if the non-productive moocher is a native-born American than if he is an immigrant? And if welfare is the problem, why do they complain about highly skilled foreigners coming here specifically for the purpose of working?

The irrational premise behind our nation’s immigration laws is that a native-born American has a “right” to a particular job, not because he has earned it, but because he was born here. To this “right,” the law sacrifices the employer’s right to hire the best employees—and the immigrant’s right to take a job that he deserves. To put it succinctly, initiative and productiveness are sacrificed to sloth and inertia.

The “American dream” is essentially the freedom of each individual to rise as far as his abilities take him. The opponents of immigration, however, want to repudiate that vision by turning America into a privileged preserve for those who want the law to set aside jobs for them—jobs they cannot freely earn through their own efforts.

firegazer1

December 15, 2009 at 6:19 AM
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The contrived fantasy of your job interview, Damian, provides clues about your lack of an expansive experience in today’s world and certainly today’s business world. I had thought you mentioned being some kind of scientist, must have been a dream, because all good scientist understand closed vs open systems. The lack of understanding you exhibit relative to understanding the psychological impact of illegals on society is striking indeed.

It is your responsibility as well as mine to support the laws of the land, we have the right to work to change them, however those with integrity do not assume it is “right” to break them until they are changed to our liking. That’s nonsense.

Read more …

Big business certainly shoulders their share of the responsibility for the illegal immigration problem, particularly those who hire illegals over citizens because they will work for less. Nor do people, except in state government run unionized situations have a right to any job. There is much more of a problem with affirmative action than in your make beleive scenario. America needs to solve their welfare problems, but not with illegal immigrants from Mexico.

There’s nothing irrational about citizenship anymore than incometax laws, traffic laws, or criminal laws. If you think the 10% unemployed Americans out looking for work consider themselves privileged take another look.

Summerspeaker

December 15, 2009 at 8:36 AM
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Mainstream economic theory supports Damian. If free trade benefits society as a whole, as most economists assert, free movement of labor does exactly the same. The current standard of mobile capital but restricted migration can only hurt workers as a whole. I have minimal sympathy for any variation of capitalism, but market-worshiper who advocate for open immigration at least establish a measure of consistency for themselves while simultaneous supporting human dignity. It’s time for a broad coalition against this country’s baneful border controls.

Damian

December 15, 2009 at 8:44 AM
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These are interesting statements that I think that I may need help in understanding. On their surface, they are quite un-American in the sense of what our founding fathers sought to establish, a land of the free.

#1) closed vs open systems…how is allowing immigrants freely into our country equate to a “closed system”? What is striking about my lack of understanding of what?

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#2)”..understanding the psychological impact of illegals on society” What psychological impact? Please, be specific, this is just a loose phrase that has zero support, I’d expect more from you. You have no right to some sort of subjective stable, “psychologically sound” society according to some make-believe standards. If there are some sort of standards, American standards, let me know.

#3) This may be just a misuse of words but “It is your responsibility as well as mine to support the laws of the land.” Then you go on to describe that if you don’t like them, you can try to change them. This is true, but kind of a pointless statement. I never promoted law-breaking, what I did say is that the laws are completely flawed. Do you also believe that the laws are flawed? Or do you support anti-immigration? If so, why?

Welfare is not a problem with illegal immigrants, in fact, a vast majority of welfare recipients are citizens. 10% unemployment has little to do with immigration as well.

A straw man argument that you are making is that because government programs exist, it makes illegal immigration expensive for the taxpayer. When in actuality, the illegal immigration is not the problem, the government hand-outs is the problem. In other words, your issue is with government, not with innocent immigrants.

It is interesting that unemployment is so high, yet there are still opportunities in the food industry and help wanted ads in many areas. Yet somehow, you are blaming unemployment on illegal immigration. I need help understanding this, and not with connect-the-dots rationalizations, but real evidence.

firegazer1

December 15, 2009 at 12:42 PM
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I apologize for being obscure, sorry. Closed system, i.e. a country without borders and border laws is not a country.

Psychological impact is a bit to lengthy to educate you on this blog as I am not prone to write novels as are some who write into Lobo. Suffice it to say that one example is a society or people (as yourself) support breaking immigration laws. The societal impact is psychological as well as practical and physical. Deviations of this sort take their toll on the cultural fabric or psychological identity of the country and it’s citizens. Additionally it causes conflict like the conflict between firegazer1 and Damian. Every culture and society has norms, as well as extremes at both ends.

Read more …

Splitting hairs about your statement concerning laws does not deserve comment, it’s a dodge.

I concur that government handouts are also problematic just as illegal immigration is, neither obviates the other in this discussion.

There is no need for me to do any research on unemployment data to convince you of my point. When I had my roof re-roofed last year my choices were to assign the contract to a company that used individuals who could not speak English and were undoubtedly not legal citizens OR to assign contract to a company that used students and other laborers who appeard to be citizens but cost #1,500.00 more. Scenarios like this are not hard to interpret, they are obvious. Additionally if we could press a button and eliminate 11 or 12 million illegals there would be more jobs available than there are now.

Damian

December 15, 2009 at 1:15 PM
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Firegazer,

The obscurity of your posts is telling. In fact, I think that you cannot provide a single piece of rational as to why an “illegal” does not deserve the same chance as a college graduate at the same job. I understand that you prefer to divert the argument to sidetracked “nation of laws” sort of game, but that still does not address the specific issue at hand.

Read more …

Had you understood the benefits of immigration in the economy, maybe you would understand that everyone benefits from it. Cato.org, which has a plethora of very knowledgable free market economists, describe the specific benefits in detail.
For example, your argument of the “magic button” does not hold water. Wealth is created and there is no pie that is shared. This is a common fallacy of the left in their quest to redistribute wealth. Again, try cato.

I think that I know where you are going with the “psychological impact”, without really saying it. So I will say it for you—you prefer a racially “pure” society. Thats all I can guess at from your obsurity. I recommend you get over it and learn to work in a world without race-colored glasses, that is the American way.

On a side note, immigration is a dead-end for the Republican party. It serves to defeat an evolving America, one with growth and prosperity…not entrenched in some sort of shackled tradition.

Firegazer1

December 15, 2009 at 6:32 PM
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My posts are not obscure, it’s just that my level of intelligence and experience does not well tolerate looking up and pasting multiple websites for your reading pleasure. Nor am I attempting to influence you or change your mind. Your liberal stance is unpatriotic and I will continue to do what I can to oppose it. I understand the liberal’s “our economy is better off due to immigrants working for less and they pay income tax” theory. I myself would rather pay 1.50/lb for chicken than 1.00/lb and know that an American did the job. No one has published any comparative data about the amount of money the immigrants take out of the economy vs what they put in that I am aware of.

Borders and border laws exist in all countries, it’s not a shackled tradition.

Damian

December 15, 2009 at 6:52 PM
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I suppose that the best economists, at Cato, and the like, are now liberal.

Finally, it may serve you better to understand free-market economics and what the American dream is all about before you continue to ridicule others.

firegazer

December 15, 2009 at 8:23 PM
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Hey your killing me with laughter here bud, not to mention a shallow understanding of the differences between free-market economics and enforcing border laws. Don’t make me laugh any more, it’s almost painful. I would venture to say that my kind has saved your liberal ass for years now, and that we’re the reason you have a place to spew your treacherous naive beliefs. Nice try throwing in Cato, he’s not against border control, nor is he one of the best economic theorists.

Summerspeaker

December 15, 2009 at 8:39 PM
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Unless I’m grossly mistaken, the Cato Damian’s talking about isn’t a person but rather the Cato Institute. The group recently produced a report concluding that the legalization of low-skilled immigrant workers would increase GDP by 1.27 percent.

Damian

December 15, 2009 at 9:49 PM
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Jesters were once used by kings to laugh uncontrollably for entertainment. They did not know why they laughed, just that they could do so to raise the spirits for the king and his court. For some reason, it comes to mind.

And yes, it is the Cato Institute, thank you Summerspeaker…that which is heavily relied and touted by many right leaning individuals (although many prefer to ignore the points that they disagree with). Cato and their economists, have been featured on Hannity, O’Reilly, Cavuto, and many more for their astounding ability to provide reason for free market economics.

Liberal? In what way? Do you understand the term liberal? Can you provide any support for your rhetoric? ANd who is “we” in saving my liberal ass? I respect the principles of the founding fathers in individual rights, liberty and capitalism.

Read more …

Where, in your mind, am I going wrong?

Dave Wilson

December 16, 2009 at 7:48 AM
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The discussion on whether or not borders should be open is irrelevant. Fact: this man broke our laws and admitted it. Fact: this is a country of laws, and we are all subject to them. Fact: the authorities did their job.

I don’t see anything wrong with criminals being afraid when they see authority figures; and I don’t see a difference between ICE officers and police officers on campus. They are both here to enforce our laws.

Read more …

I see that this person is still determined to return to our country – the only way he’ll be able to do that is if he breaks the law – again. And then he wants to break the laws of Canada by crossing their border illegally; certainly, with his current record of fraud and illegal entry, there is no way he can now get into Canada legally.

There are millions of people who want to come to this country, and do so legally. I support them; I think their talents are a great help and resource to America. But law breakers must be punished, whether bank robbers or illegal immigrants.

Damian

December 16, 2009 at 8:35 AM
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Thanks for the comment Dave. You will not find any contest here about breaking the law. The contest is about laws that are enacted that are un-American.

So continue with your subordination to the state, I do not have an interest in the discussion.

Read more …

And open borders was completely relevant to the article and to the discussion. You may not want to venture there, but I do.

Dave Wilson

December 16, 2009 at 8:50 AM
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There are many laws with which I disagree. I campaign to change those. But while they are in force I respect them, and I respect the officers we have entrusted to enforce all laws equally. That’s American. So I have no problem with Damian pushing his position, though I disagree with it; I would have a problem with him or anyone else encouraging anyone to break our laws, or trying to prevent the authorities from enforcing them.

It is un-American to encourage people to break the laws we don’t like. That is clearly what Lamadrid and Lopategui are doing according to this article, and the Regents should take action to prevent that. The Regents also need to start enforcing some admissions standards so that they check for a real ID before admitting a student, rather than supporting their law-breaking by enrolling them with false social security numbers to hide their status.

damian

December 16, 2009 at 9:34 AM
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It shines light on the absurdity of immigration laws. A productive immigrant ousted regardless of his struggle to fulfill his American dream.

The issue is not whether ICE should fulfill their duties but that there is severely negative consequence to the immigration debacle.

Read more …

It was also unlawful for East Germans to flee to West Germany, sometimes punishable by death…just a thought.

Doc John

December 16, 2009 at 11:24 AM
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We have laws enacted for very good reasons. Illegals kill Americans. Remember the NMSU student—that could just as easily been a UNM student.

This person violated our legislated laws. He and other illegals should fear our laws and our enforcement of them and not illegally enter this country in the first place!

Damian

December 16, 2009 at 12:10 PM
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Doc John,

I was hoping someone would bring this one up. This is the ultimate in attempts to distort the reality immigration laws.

Read more …

It is illegal to kill someone, and therefore this illegal immigrant was tried for murder. Does it make any difference whether he was illegal? Of course not. Being of legal or illegal status has absolutely no bearing on whether or not you can or cannot kill another person. In your logic, in this case, should we deport first or try for murder first? The second draws more support from the idea that a citizen is tried as equally as a non-citizen.

“Illegals kill Americans”—Racism really isn’t amusing and quite childish. Racism is also taught, usually learned by the parents of that individual. Its unAmerican to be racist and this is what is at the root to the anti-immigration push that we see from many pitiful Americans.

Richard

December 16, 2009 at 6:18 PM
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Breaking the laws of our country is not a matter of discussion here. The student violated several laws and is not immune from justice. It is ridiculous to think that UNM should be a safe haven for criminals. Yes he was arrested like a criminal because he was a criminal. Would you have felt the same way if the the 911 terrorist were students at UNM? What gives illegal aliens special rights just because they are students. My grandparents were of mexican descent and they would have been appalled at the idea that illegal aliens have special rights. My daughter attends college in Denver with a young lady that is an incredible student but she is an illegal alien. The young lady feels that she should have special rights. It is not her fault that her parents are here illegally but nevertheless she and her family are breaking the law. I welcome anyone in our country that is willing to go through the process to become legalized but I cannot tolerate criminals regardless of their crime.

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