...let her stay for crying out loud.

Quote :

MIAMI -- Classmates of a North Miami High School valedictorian facing deportation protested Friday morning.

An immigration judge on Monday ordered the deportation of 18-year-old Daniela Pelaez, who was brought illegally to the United States by her parents when she was 4 years old.

Holding signs and shouting "Education not deportation" and "let her stay," the students filed out of their classrooms around 9 a.m.

Pelaez met with Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who later walked out with her to joining the protest holding her hand.

"Over my dead body will this child be deported," Carvalho said.
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Read NBCMiami.com's coverage of student's immigration battle

Emily Sell, Pelaez's best friend and the organizer of the protest, showed up at the school bright and early Friday to help her friend.

"We've been making posters like crazy," said Sell, the school's salutatorian. "I hope this march brings the proper attention to the issue of deportation."

Pelaez expressed her appreciation for her friends' actions when she arrived for school before the protest.

"They're the vanguard," Pelaez said.

Pelaez left Colombia in 1998 with her parents, who entered the United States illegally and divorced before Pelaez could become a citizen. She told NBC Miami Thursday that she has no memory of Colombia and loves her friends and this country.

"I've been asked the question before: 'Do I feel American?' or 'Do I believe I am?'" she said. "And I don't think it's a question. I'm American. I know the national anthem. I know the laws. I know what it is to be an American."

Pelaez has earned nearly all A's in the school's international baccalaureate program, but her ability to go to college is threatened substantially by her immigration status.

Late Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a statement saying it will not take further steps in the case until the conclusion of Pelaez's appeal on the judge's decision.

Not everyone agrees Pelaez should stay.

"She should be deported," said Linda Simmons, who has a son in ninth grade at North Miami High. "Her parents broke the law."

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/02/10561563-north-miami-high-school-students-fight-valedictorians-deportation-order

She should be given a chance.

What more of a chamce does she need? HAsn't she shown herself to be of GREAT moral character? Hasn't she "proven" herself? WTF is with immigration and the republickins?

The hell with people like Ms. Simmons...F&%(* her and all the other righteous folks.

"She should be deported," said Linda Simmons, who has a son in ninth grade at North Miami High. "Her parents broke the law."

Great, I was starting to wonder if this was a true story coming out of Miami with all the feel-good, conscientious helpful friends and even a very sympathetic community leader, but the journalist did their job well and found an unsympathetic, heartless true Miami ASS WIPE bigot to put in print.

Hmm think I'll look her up and give her a call. (Damn, just looked - she's not listed)

Here is a case for legal maneuvering. Her lawyer said the appeals process should take 3 or 4 years.

The sins of the parents are visited upon the children..............

Illegal is illegal, and it is still a crime. Period. No sympathy here.

There's what's legal and what's just. I'll take the latter.

Alan Smithee wrote:

There's what's legal and what's just. I'll take the latter.

Exactly.

Shale wrote:

So, you are heartless enuf to send this child who has known nothing but this country and culture to a foreign nation of which she does not belong except for a fact of birth?

I have broken laws that were wrong, so I don't believe in the letter of the law. Eating your wife's pussy was illegal in Georgia and Florida when I did it in those states. I guess if "illegal is illegal" you agree that I should have been thrown in jail for this crime. (a man in GA actually was)

I really hope things work out for this girl.

LOL@ people hating on the judge for following the law. Who does that? Yeah, she is suffering from a bad decision on her parents part, but the law is the law. If you're going to make exceptions for her, then you might as well do it for every illegal immigrant. I do think she should be given a chance to stay given the circumstances, and if she does, she better take full advantage of it. She's 18 and an adult now....she needs to take matters into her own hands and work at becoming legal.