Law and Order
The following are excerpts from a Newsweek article dated March 2018:
“While Donald Trump fixates on walls, California will continue to concentrate on opportunities,” De León told The Sacramento Bee in a statement. “Ms. Mateo is a courageous, determined and intelligent young woman who at great personal risk has dedicated herself to fight for those seeking their rightful place in this country.”
Mateo said she welcomed the opportunity, telling the newspaper that “while undocumented students have become more visible in our state, they remain under-represented in places where decisions that affect them are being made.”
The attorney was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, and came to the U.S. with her parents when she was just 14 years old. She went on to develop a passion for law and became the first person in her family to graduate from college, receiving her degree from Santa Clara University law school in 2016 and passing the California bar last year, according to her legal firm’s website. She was officially sworn in by De León on June 29, 2017.
In 2010, Mateo also became one of the first undocumented young people to risk deportation by demanding the passage of the DREAM Act, legislation that would grant certain immigrants, including Dreamers, or people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, a path to citizenship. She also played a key role in helping a group of young people now known as the “Dream 9” return to the U.S. after being deported to Mexico.
The decision to appoint Mateo to a statewide post came just a day after Trump visited California for the first time as president, taking a trip to San Diego to see prototypes of the border wall he plans to build between the U.S. and Mexico. (Da Silva, Newsweek, 2018)
My first question is, “What am I missing?” We have an obviously intelligent, young woman who was brought here illegally….studies law….becomes a lawyer and is now a practicing attorney in a country that she resides in as a result of illegal entry. It must be noted that the decision to enter the country illegally was made by her parents as she was a minor at the time of entry. But she has now been educated to the point that she should fully understand the law and how it works – so why not take the proper steps to become a US citizen and make it legal? Does the law mean nothing? And, if so, is her practice of the law making a mockery of our system? Or, is our system so broken there are no real laws in place to rectify this?
What are your thoughts?
The Roaring Ellie
References: Da Silva, Chantal (Newsweek) March 15, 2018 retrieved on the world wide web on April 13, 2019 from https://www.yahoo.com/news/first-undocumented-immigrant-appointed-state-122408144.html?fbclid=IwAR1N9PaLxEmOTFZhM40NT_jSPb6hbuayH3Y2-1y_6QqxJz_-Rd2Dgsa4Rw0