Honor Student Faces Deportation

DENVER -- An 18-year-old honor student and illegal immigrant who went public with his struggle to attend college will be deported if U.S. Rep Tom Tancredo gets his way.

SURVEY Should honor student and illegal immigrant Jesus Apodaca be deported? Yes. He and his family broke the law. Simple as that. No. I don't see why there should be so much emphasis on deporting this one honor student when thousands of others are in this country illegally too. I don't know. Results  |  Disclaimer

Jesus Apodaca, 18, was featured in an Aug. 11 Denver Post story about how federal law prevents schools from offering financial aid or in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

In the story, Apodaca said he and his family had been in the country illegally for five years.

After reading the story, Tancredo said he contacted the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Denver and asked that Apodaca and any other undocumented relatives be deported.

Apodaca's father, mother and four siblings are illegal, family members have said. Two other siblings are legal U.S. residents.

"If he's here illegally, he's got to go," Tancredo said of Apodaca. "I'm perceived as being the bad guy here. But I don't regret it one bit.

"It's got nothing to do with Mexico or Mexicans," said Tancredo, a Republican who represents the suburbs south of Denver. "It's not racism. It's not hatred for people."

Tancredo's office has been inundated with calls from residents who oppose or applaud his stance.

SURVEY Do you think illegal immigrants should be allowed to attend public school? Yes. No. I don't have an opinion. Results  |  Disclaimer

Mike Feeley, a Democrat running for Denver's new 7th Congressional District, says that Apodaca's story shows America's true spirit.

"I think the heroic story of this young man, and succeeding in the public school system here is a testament to what this country is all about," Feeley said.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said Tancredo is out of line.

"I hadn't realized that Tom Tancredo had been appointed as the new director of the local INS," she said. "For a member of Congress to use their influence to deport a family takes resources away from the INS's priority of tracking down and deporting drug dealers and terrorists."

She does not plan to intervene directly in the case.

Tancredo said his office has assisted 104 immigrants seeking citizenship or work visas through proper channels.

But the debate over this one particular honor student raises the question of whether public education is the right for every child in Colorado, including illegal immigrants.

It is difficult to know exactly how many illegal immigrants are being educated in Colorado because school districts by state law are limited in what they can ask, 7NEWS reported.

If families live in the school district, that district is obligated to teach them.

Census figures provide a glimpse of some peripheral numbers. Out of 4.3 million Coloradans, 253,000 are not citizens.

In a paper written for the Independence Institute several years ago, Linda Gorman estimated that Colorado taxpayers spend $59.5 million educating illegal immigrants. The total educational budget is $4.1 billion.

So are those children keeping the other kids from learning as much as they can?

"I don't know if i can answer that question completely," Gorman said.

"We serve a number of homeless children. And these children have many issues that they bring with them. Some are educational, some are emotional, some are social. And we're here to educate all of them regardless," Colfax Elementary School Principal Dr. Mary Romero said.

Romero said the homeless issue is by far more of a concern for her teachers than whether a student is in the country illegally.

They feel their mission is to educate all the students so they can become contributing members of society.