Students in Legal Limbo After Immigration Fight

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

MILWAUKEE — It was exhilarating for Maricela Aguilar to stand on the steps of the federal courthouse here one day last summer and reveal for the first time in public that she is an illegal immigrant.

“It’s all about losing that shame of who you are,” Ms. Aguilar, a college student who was born in Mexico but has lived in the United States without legal documents since she was three years old, said of her “coming out” at a rally in June.

Those were heady times for thousands of immigrant students who declared their illegal status during a nationwide campaign for a bill in Congress that would have put them on a path to legal residence. In December that bill, known as the Dream Act, passed the House of Representatives, then failed in the Senate.

President Obama insisted in the State of the Union address and in later interviews that he wants to try again on the bill this year. But with Republicans who vehemently oppose the legislation holding crucial committee positions in the new House, even optimists like Ms. Aguilar believe its chances are poor to none in the next two years.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/us/09immigration.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. No limbo at all...if they are caught they will be deported

While I do not agree with it, it is black letter law at this point.

[WatsonT]

2. Yep

seems fairly straightforward to me.

[lsewpershad]

3. What black letter laws

How many black letter Laws are not broken Calderon should make Ms Aguilar his ambassador to this country for immigration affairs.