Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Some unfair roadblocks

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2002 | 8:31 a.m.

THE CASE OF Valley High School student Surisadai Maya really upsets me. Sun reporter Tim Pratt wrote about her and other undocumented immigrants having trouble going from high school to higher education. This goes on despite some students, like Maya, graduating with 3.0 grade point averages and higher. Yes, they are among some of our brightest and most able.

She qualifies for Nevada's Millennium scholarship that Gov. Kenny Guinn and the 1999 Legislature approved. It's a great program that Guinn, a former educator, brought forth in his State of the State address. A Nevada high school student who spent his or her last two years in one of our high schools and graduates with a 3.0 grade point average or more qualifies for the $2,500 a year scholarship at UNLV or UNR or $1,250 granted if attending a community college. The award is based on grades and residency and not on technical immigration problems some may face.

Maya, 17, came to the United States with her parents at age five. She knows no other country and is an American. She is American enough to be a command sergeant major in Valley's Army ROTC. She has qualified for an ROTC scholarship at Washington State University but they told her she's not eligible because of her status as an undocumented immigrant.

This brought to mind some men I know who, after enlisting and fighting in combat, became citizens. Even today a documented alien can join the military and within eight years must become a citizen. Until he becomes a citizen, he can only rise to the rank of E-4.

So why don't her parents and Maya apply for citizenship after being here 12 years? They did, but were among the unlucky thousands of local immigrants who were defrauded by scam artists. I have been told that because of a lawsuit these unfortunate people are held in a legal limbo.

Here we have a young lady with a mind and the training to become a valuable contributor to our society. I'd say it's about time the barriers blocking her participation be torn down for the good of our country.

Even closer to home, the Board of Regents should instruct all of the administrators under its jurisdiction to admit any and all Millennium Scholarship winners to their institutions at tuition rates of residents. Yes, this includes CCSN and the other community colleges.

Our country can't afford to cast aside talented people who live and are educated here and want to contribute to our strength and advancement. People like this young lady are the future of our nation. How often we hear politicians and office holders refer to successful young graduates as our greatest resource. They could have no finer example than this student soon to graduate from Valley High School.

Yes, she's our resource, not Mexico's. We can't afford, as human beings or a nation, to hold people like her down. Forget about it being a matter of fairness and realize her opportunities are a plus for all of us.

I'm not talking about illegal aliens who continue to flow across our borders. We have laws to help those who have been here for many years to become documented. Action must be taken to protect those who innocently have been cheated by thieves preying upon them. They have already been cheated once and we can't allow them to continue being victims by denying them the next step up a ladder of success all other equally qualified Americans can reach.

The case of Surisadai Maya should be of great interest to our members of Congress, university regents, Department of Justice and just plain good Americans who know right from wrong.