Double standard in deportation of illegal immigrants

Let me say a few words in defense of deporting illegal immigrants. I wouldn't have thought such a defense would be necessary, since being in the United States without proper documents is a crime and the penalty is deportation. But 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, Calif., studied hard to earn a perfect grade-point average. And, for his hard work, he was admitted to the University of California at Davis.

And yet, Arthur will probably never make it to freshman orientation. That's because, on 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 a detention facility until he can be deported.

According to The Fresno Bee, Arthur's father came to the United States from the former Soviet Union in December 1991, and sought political asylum. Arthur and his mother joined him a few years later. No one came with the proper documents. And so, when their asylum application was rejected, and appeals were denied, they were targeted for deportation. That is as it should be. The law is the law. Fortunately for this family, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a last-minute bill on behalf on Arthur and his parents. Such bills rarely pass.

Still, it's a heartbreaking story. Say, maybe we can work out a trade. Armenia lets us keep Arthur, and we send a dozen of our lazier U.S.-born teenagers who think themselves entitled to the good life but don't want to do the work to make it happen.

Arthur, and his parents, will probably be deported. And 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 higher out-of-state tuition rates. 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 them what they were planning to do about Apodaca. The young man and his family were apprehended and, last we heard, were slated for deportation. That won applause from immigration hard-liners.

But here's the part that bothers me: I wonder why more of them -- including Tancredo -- aren't making a fuss over Arthur Mkoyan. Apodaca didn't get nearly the amount of public sympathy Mkoyan has received. I believe it's because, while Mkoyan 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. 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.

© 2008, Washington Post Writers Group