Ok, first, let me start off by saying this is tragic. The Washington Times reports:
An illegal-immigrant student in Texas who committed suicide the day after Thanksgiving left letters saying he felt trapped by his lack of opportunities and, according to his family, he “decided to sacrifice himself for the cause.”
High school senior Joaquin Luna, 18, dressed in a suit, kissed family members, went into the bathroom and shot himself, according to his brother, Diyer Mendoza. In the letters he said he had lost hope in the chances for the Dream Act, which is legislation that would have legalized illegal-immigrant students and young adults but which was blocked in Congress last year.
“He was actually doing this for the cause, mainly the Dream Act,” Mr. Mendoza said. “He was doing this to show politicians, to show that something had to be done because there are a lot of kids out there in the same situation.”
The case highlights the hundreds of thousands of illegal-immigrant students who are caught between a decision their parents made when they were young and the situation with U.S. law.
Surely such a tragic event wouldn’t be politicized by anti-rule-of-law, er, I mean, pro-amnesty types…
Immigrant-rights advocates said politicians in Washington should take notice.
“His death is an indictment on the failure of this administration to move an inch forward on fixing a broken immigration system,” said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, communications director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, which has planned a Friday commemoration for Luna.
“I certainly don’t want to give you the impression that we’re going to use his death as a football or anything like that. We need to honor his memory, and we need to remind other Americans what this young man was about — because that’s the kind of people we’re talking about,” Mr. Cabrera said.
But President Obama did the best he could with the mean ol’ Republicans in control of the House…
In the absence of legislation, President Obama has tried to take administration action, with the Homeland Security Department issuing a memo to its immigration services saying those who would have qualified for the Dream Act should be low on the priority list for deportation. It also listed other factors, such as caring for a family, that would lower the risk of deportation.
I’m sure we will not hear the end of this tragedy, not any time soon.