TEMPE, Ariz. - On this Arizona State University graduation day, Angelica Hernandez should be reflecting on her accomplishments and her future career prospects. Instead, she worries about being deported and not being able to get a job.

Angelica Hernandez came to Arizona from Mexico in the late 1990s. She excelled in her studies -- graduating high school with a 4.5 GPA.

During the graduation ceremony, Hernandez gets to sit on stage because she is a distinguished graduate. She's the 'outstanding distinguished senior' in mechanical engineering at ASU -- which is what a valedictorian is to other universities.

"To be able to receive that award and knowing the people that I was competing with, it just makes me so excited and so overwhelmed," she told us.

Most distinguished graduates like Hernandez have jobs and internships lined up by now, but not Hernandez. She's undocumented.

"There's my degree but I can't use it as much as I want to get a job, as much as I want to help somewhere or do research, I can't. its just very unfortunate."

Hernandez' mom moved her and her sister to Arizona when Hernandez was 9 years old, to be with their dad.

"She knew that just having my dad there while growing up was worth the risk of crossing," recalls Hernandez.

Hernandez later earned a 4.5 GPA at Carl Hayden High School and was in the ROTC. Now, she wears a "Dream Act" button proudly.

The legislation reintroduced Wednesday by Senate Democrats would provide children who were brought to the U.S. illegally a path to citizenship if they pursue a college education or military service.

"I'm just kind of hoping for the Dream Act to pass and to have those kinds of opportunities," she says. "There is really no place for me to go. They say go back home you don't belong here, but I do belong here this is home for me."

She hopes to pursue a career in the U.S. in sustainable energy. Meanwhile, Hernandez lives her life in fear of being deported.


I really don't have a problem with this, but in order for them to stay, they should renounce their home country, and become a citizen.. if not, deport them and the college record should be wiped clean...a lot of these people come here for an education, and as long as they pay for it themselves, it should not be an issue. But when the government pays for their education, then they skip out and leave the country, that seems a bit wrong to me....

Undocumented.

Soft way of saying she is an Illegal.

She can use that knowledge in her own country, no?

thats my point, if we are going to do this, make them citizens, and renounce their old country... if they don't want to do this, deport them and erase their credits...

According to Fed Law, the Father should be prosecuted under a number of statutes, the Mother deported and the daughter should be deported under special circumstances.

Her application for Legal entry would get processed pretty rapidly.

People should have taken her picture and sent it to the INS and Enforcement Departments. She should be deported and in prison, no college.

i think it would be more fair to give them a choice

The use doesn't require anyone to 'renounce' other national citizenship. There are many U.S. citizens who are nationals of others countries as well as to the U.S..

Also, the DREAM Act is a more direct route to citicenship for those, like the student in the article, who were brought here as children and as adults must make the choice of 'returning' or 'seeking citizenship'.

For the older teens / young adults the DREAM Act lessens the burden of being stigmatized by the actions of their parents. It also provides a more stable avenue for citizenship for those kids seeking education or military jobs.

They would still have limitations until they had proved themselves by completing the goal (education or serving).

Just wanted to give a clearer view.

why renounce their home country? dual citizenship is common in america.

Shou would have a chance, a chance to leave and go back to her own damn country before they arrest her.

they weren't born here, their stupid parents brought them here illegally... why should they be dual citizens when they know nothing of their country they came from? if the government is paying for their education, then they (IMO) should either become citizens, of america only, or be deported...

Why should ILLEGALS be rewarded for breaking the law? dual citizenship is for people that come here THE LEGAL WAY, and is a reward for their children... fence jumpers should not be rewarded in any way, it just promotes the problem...

i never said anybody should be able to break the law nor did i say the woman should be offered citizenship. what i said was that there's no reason to renounce one's citizenship in another country to become a citizen in america.

I'd like to know how she got this far, to be honest. Whether one argues about everyone getting a basic education, how are these people getting into college to begin with, without documentation?

my whole point is that the illegals are using and abusing the system. if they are having their college paid for by the US government, why should they take that back to their home country?

The problem for students who are undocumented is that they are not entitled to Federal Aid of any kind for school, that means no federally backed loans and no Pell Grant. That would NOT CHANGE under the DREAM ACT. What would change is that such students would be able to work legally, and support themselves through school. Also, they are not usually eligable for scholarship awards either, however, some of that could change under DREAM Act. After all we do want the best and the brightest as citizens - right?

The point is, these young adults would not get near as much help with school AND must complete it in order to gain citizenship - that's asking a lot of a person and if that person has the persistance, the competance, and the intelligence to muster through it, then they really want to be citizens and we SHOULD really want people with that kind of drive and perseverance in our midst.

If we think about it logically, that's a better system then what we have now (the quota system) with little to no qualifiers just a magic number to be allowed in.

Of course, there may be a lot of white folks and even a lot of folks of color who see the writing on the wall and fear the day when Hyspanic Americans are the majority in this country. So they choose to fight the tide of change with hate, intead of thinking about a way to make sure that when that group tips the majority scale they will at least be well educated and well grounded in their citizenship.

i don't know much about the dream act, that article is the 2nd like it less than a week... if they are paying for there own school, or private funding, then i have nothing to say about it. then agian, there's that word , hate... my point to this article is that a lot of foreign students go to school here, and i was thinking the government was paying for theme to go to college, then leave and take all the education with them. if they are that smart because of american education, then we needed to find a way to keep them here. but since the government is not paying for them, my argument is mute...