Wheels within Wheels

Denver is one of the few remaining U.S. cities with two newspapers. The Denver Post is the more liberal, and the Rocky Mountain News the more conservative. They’re combined on the weekends as a result of a joint operating agreement, because it’s hard to support two newspapers in the same city.

I don’t subscribe to either, but I get to see the Rocky fairly often because a co-worker brings it in and leaves it in the lunchroom.

Yesterday, there was an article on high school students who were interested in attending a service academy. The one who got the most coverage in the article was a David Mendez:

Some of the students said they were surprised to learn how competitive the service academies are. In addition to nominations from a member of Congress or other nominating authority, students must have strong college entrance exam scores, top class standing and grade point average, and letters of recommendation.

David Mendez, a 17-year-old junior at Lincoln High School, learned he had to be a U.S. citizen to apply.

An illegal immigrant from Mexico, Mendez has been an active supporter of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. Introduced in the U.S. House and Senate earlier this month, the proposal would give high school graduates temporary legal status and in-state college tuition rates, and would allow them to qualify for permanent legal status when they attend college or serve in the military.

“Even if the DREAM Act passes, I could sign up as an enlisted military, but I can’t sign up for the academy. I didn’t know that,” said Mendez, a junior ROTC participant who has long dreamed of attending West Point.

He added: “I guess I know now what issue to take up next with our legislators.”

It’s nice that the article at least acknowledges that he’s illegal, but that last quote from him rubs me the wrong way – because he is illegal, I think he’s using the word “our” incorrectly. If he were talking about the legislators in his home country, fine, but he’s not. He’s talking about lobbying my government to make limited tax-supported resources available to illegal immigrants on the same basis that they are available to citizens.

I’m a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, and there are several methods of obtaining an appointment. I was not appointed by my congressman; I entered on a Presidential appointment, which was a category reserved for the sons of active-duty military personnel (I graduated before the academies became co-ed). I had several classmates who were not U. S. citizens. They attended as exchange students sponsored by their own governments. I suggest that if Mr. Mendez wishes to attend West Point, he make arrangements to apply on that basis.

Update:

And, come to think of it, what’s with him lobbying for this DREAM act? How “temporary” will this legal status be, and why should illegal aliens get better tuition than citizens of this country?