If a 2 year-old is mature enough to be capable of illegally overstaying a visa on their own free will and understand the consequences, then 3 year-olds should be able to vote and 4 year-olds should be able to go to jail for a lifetime. He was 2. He shouldn't pay for a crime his parents committed.
That's called 'being in a state of sin'. He's innocent until he reaches some certain age, and then he's not. His crime is continual until he stops committing it.
Not as simple as that, man. I'm completely American, but I'm missing a piece of bureaucracy that a broken immigration system won't give me.
I don't speak Arabic, I have no memories of Saudi Arabia, and I thought I was American for a long time. I didn't commit a crime on purpose, and worse there's no way to atone for it except for reform or leaving and being barred from my home country.
I know I can leave, but I want to try everything I'm able to and stay in the US.
I'm surprised you got 2 up votes; I came to the HN community not looking for advice on how to break the law or get a condescending response from some internet tough guy.
I'm asking for advice on how I could pay for college. That is it. I already realize I've unintentionally broke the law and I've been reminded often enough.
Queen, I'm here to talk about paying out of state tuition, not what I should do about my status.
Read the edit in the post. I cannot change my status with an overstayed visa, so it's not a matter of choice or lack of will. I didn't come to HN to be lynched.
if you dont find a way to pay for college...you have a legitimate shot at the DREAM immigration reform..it passed the HOUSE this week but not the senate...its up for revote later next year.
The measure, known as the DREAM Act, would have granted temporary legal status to most illegal immigrants under age 30 who were brought here before age 16, and who have been in the country at least five years. It would have granted a further path to citizenship to those who go on to college or join the U.S. military.
Something like DREAM will get passed eventually for the new wave of illegals, just look at this:
1. Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA), 1986: A blanket amnesty for over 2.7 million illegal aliens
2. Section 245(i) Amnesty, 1994: A temporary rolling amnesty for 578,000 illegal aliens
3. Section 245(i) Extension Amnesty, 1997: An extension of the rolling amnesty created in 1994
4. Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) Amnesty, 1997: An amnesty for close to one million illegal aliens from Central America
5. Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act Amnesty (HRIFA), 1998: An amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti
6. Late Amnesty, 2000: An amnesty for some illegal aliens who claim they should have been amnestied under the 1986 IRCA amnesty, an estimated 400,000 illegal aliens
7. LIFE Act Amnesty, 2000: A reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty, an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens
How broken is our system that someone can manage to stay 16+ years without getting caught. I mean really, the laws and policies need to be adjusted to make that impossible.
I think it's worse that I can't earn my citizenship. The immigration system has neglected undocumented students: a very specific niche of illegals.
I'm completely American and you'd never guess that I'm illegal unless I told you (the stigma is all illegals speak broken English and are some sort of Latino, which I'm not.)