CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL VALEDICTORIAN TO BE DEPORTED

FOX News
June 2 2008

FRESNO, Calif. — The valedictorian at Fresno’s Bullard High School
won’t be attending college in the United States this fall because
he’s scheduled to be deported.

Arthur Mkoyan’s 4.0 grade-point average qualified him to enter one of
the state’s top universities. But the 17-year-old and his mother have
been ordered back to Armenia after their last appeal for asylum failed.

The family fled from what used to be part of the Soviet Union and
has been seeking asylum since 1992.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they
were given an extension until June 20 so Mkoyan could attend his
graduation ceremony.

A federal bill called the DREAM Act that would have given some
high-performing illegal immigrants legal status to attend college
stalled last year in Congress.