Welcome to the world of political discourse, Larissa Martinez and Mayte Lara.
These two young women are accomplished scholars. Larissa finished first in her Boyd High School class in McKinney, Texas; Mayte was valedictorian of her Crocket High School class down yonder, in Austin.
What sets these two scholars apart? They are the daughters of parents who sneaked into the United States illegally.
Larissa revealed her undocumented status during her valedictory speech to fellow graduating seniors in McKinney. Mayte disclosed her status in a tweet message and has received a lot of angry — often hateful — responses over the social media network.
They also typify what is so profoundly wrong with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump’s impractical — and inhumane — proposal to round up all illegal immigrants for immediate deportation back to their home countries.
https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/10/brief-june-10-2016/?mc_cid=b15f8d77df&mc_eid=c01508274f
These two young women are precisely the opposite of the generalization that Trump laid on those who enter this country illegally. You’ll recall when he said the “Mexican government is sending” hardened criminals across the border into the United States, while offering the tepid “I’m sure there are some good people, too” who are coming here illegally.
His solution is to “build a wall” and send out an undetermined number of federal agents to round up every undocumented immigrant they can find.
What about the achievers among them? What about the children who came here as, say, infants or toddlers and who grew up as Americans?
What about the scholars such as Larissa and Mayte?
I won’t fall into the trap of over-generalization and suggest that every single child of an illegal immigrant is as accomplished as these two young women. Yes, illegal immigrants have committed some horrible crimes — as have immigrants who’ve entered here legally and Americans who were born and reared within our sovereign borders.
What does the future hold for these two individuals?
Larissa is going to attend Yale University, while Mayte will stay closer to home and attend the University of Texas.
I suspect great things await them — as long as they’re allowed to continue to pursue their American dream.
As the Texas Tribune has noted, Trump will be in North Texas next week for a series of fundraising events. Larissa would like to meet with the candidate. “Yes, I would love to talk to him,” she told WFAA-TV. “I think he even needs to know we are people too.”