DENVER -- Denver Mayor Wellington Webb lent his support Thursday to the growing bipartisan movement to protect a Mexican honor student and his family from deportation.

Jesus Apodaca, an honors graduate from Aurora Central High School, was accepted to the University of Colorado at Denver but can't pay in-state tuition because he is an illegal immigrant.

Webb said Apodaca was wrongly singled out by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was alerted to the student's status by 6th Congressional Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.

Based on Apodaca's admission that his family has been in the country illegally for five years, Tancredo, a vocal critic of immigration laws, said he contacted the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Denver and asked that Apodaca and any other undocumented family members be deported.

Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., has introduced a bill to give the Apodacas permanent resident status. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., has said he will introduce a similar measure in the House. Republican Gov. Bill Owens supports the lawmakers' efforts.

"It would seem to me if the INS was going to deport somebody, that they would start with those who have committed a crime, not with honor students," Webb said during a press conference to announce that Denver would begin accepting the new "Matricula Consular" Identification Card issued by the Mexican Consulate as official identification for undocumented workers.

Webb said the possibility of deportation for the Apodacas sends the wrong message and further isolates immigrants who remain fearful of contacting government officials for legitimate needs.

Tancredo has said that the Apodacas are in the country illegally and should be deported despite all appearances that they have become productive members of American society.

His stance was given bipartisan support by the Democratic and Republican contenders for the 7th Congressional District, Mike Feeley and Bob Beauprez.

National immigration experts said the controversy, which makes a volatile political issue intensely personal, is unprecedented.

''There are many members of Congress who believe our immigration policies need to be fixed. But you just don't find a member who's decided to single out a young man and his family in this fashion, to bully them really, because they've had the courage to speak out,'' said Angela Kelley, the deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group.

As many as 65,000 undocumented teenagers graduate from high school each year, according to the Urban Institute.

In the past year, California, Texas, New York, and Utah have passed legislation that would extend in-state tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants, as long as they had lived in the country at least three years.