When Leslie Boney called out the names of elected officials to recognize them at the Immigration Matters Forum yesterday in Hunt Library, he just as well could have mimicked Ben Stein’s economics professor from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. After having rattling off several officials’ names, not one stood to be recognized, as prompted by Boney. “Bueller … Bueller … Bueller …”
And we can’t point a finger at the absent officials without fairly stating that there were few students present as well. Lawyers and professors made up the majority of the audience.
The two groups whose presence at the forum was most important weren’t there to listen and speak. Students, who will soon be in leadership roles were few in number. It could be because the event was so close to spring break, or because the forum was poorly advertised.
It’s hard to account for the absences of the representative who Boney hoped would stand. But the forum lost its potential to spark any real progress when it failed to bring students and lawmakers together.
We commend the Center for International Understanding for putting together the event — but maybe it would help to recruit some campus representatives to promote future events, put the marketing majors to work.
On Feb. 6, this newspaper published an editorial about Saydiel Reyes, an undocumented immigrant who was in the process of applying for schools to study civil engineering. Saydiel said he was denied admission into UNC-Pembroke because of his undocumented status.
It’s students like Saydiel who stand to benefit from the product of dialogue between current lawmakers and future leaders.
As of now, undocumented immigrants cannot easily get an education — let alone a four-year degree — in North Carolina. But, according to Peter Hans, chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, immigrants are twice as likely to start businesses than non-immigrants. Saydiel, who works for his dad’s small construction company dreams of starting his own company one day. The biggest roadblock for Reyes and those like him is the current immigration policy.
Presently, 26 percent of North Carolinians hold a four-year degree, and with the growing number of undocumented immigrants in the state, that number will only get smaller if we don’t allow them to pursue formal educations. Failure to reform will render the UNC system’s goal to increase that number to 37 percent by 2025 as little more than a pipe dream
Immigration reform isn’t only for undocumented residents, but for students who come to the U.S. with a visa. Currently, students whose visas expire are forced to move back to their home countries. Many of them complete STEM degrees and prefer to stay in the U.S. And rather than granting them citizenship, they are sent elsewhere to compete with the U.S.
A fair analogy would be to compare the United States to a farmer who labors to grow crops, only to give them away for free after harvest. And though the farmer’s intentions are more charitable than the United States’, they’re equally as foolish. If we invest time and resources in someone, it’s reasonable to expect a return on that.
North Carolinian business and political leaders and icons met under one roof to discuss immigration reform. Though the editorial board members firmly believe lawyers and professors, too, should be educated — the sheer brainpower in the room was wasted.
