Fresno Bee (California)
June 11, 2008 Wednesday
CHASE EDITION

Case of Bullard student highlights the flaws in U.S. immigration policy

High school students such as Arthur Mkoyan are assets to this
country. He came to Fresno as a 2-year-old from Armenia and graduated
Tuesday from Bullard High School as valedictorian. He has been
accepted to the University of California, Davis, where he would like
to major in chemistry.

But there’s a catch. He’s about to be deported to Armenia, a country
he doesn’t know and whose language he hardly speaks.

Mkoyan is among about 25,000 students a year who graduate from
California high schools (65,000 nationally) in a similar situation:
They were brought here by their parents and have grown up here, but
they are prevented from a path to citizenship.

Mkoyan’s parents fled the old Soviet Union, but their appeals for
asylum ran out this year. Arthur’s father is being held at a detention
center in Arizona; his mother was released to care for the
children. Arthur’s U.S.-born brother, now 12 years old, is a
U.S. citizen.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill Tuesday to allow Arthur and
his immediate family to stay in the United States. The bill will
effectively suspend the deportation proceedings until Congress makes a
decision on the legislation.

But this is not just a private matter. This case shows why
U.S. immigration policy needs a fix.

Last year, Congress nearly passed the DREAM Act, which would have
given temporary legal status to kids who arrived in the United States
before age 16, have lived here for five years, graduated from a
U.S. high school and have no criminal record.

The bargain is that if they go to college or join the U.S. military,
they can get green cards within six years — putting them on a path to
citizenship.

But a filibuster killed it. Presidential candidates Sens. John McCain
of Arizona and Barack Obama of Illinois should revive that
bill. McCain originally was a co-sponsor. Obama, a supporter, said he
would "fight to bring this legislation back for another vote as soon
as possible."

Now is the time. Students such as Mkoyan have been trained here and
brought up as Americans. We should do everything we can to tap their
talents for the United States.