Daily Breeze Exposes DACA Fail re: Francisco Hernandez

The Local media have gone out of their way a number of times to promote sob stories about illegal aliens living and struggling in the United States.

I wish that the reporters would spend more time talking about the countless lives harmed by illegal immigration including the deaths of California residents at the hands of repeat offender illegals.

Perhaps those stories won't fit into a headline, but that does not diminish the serious necessity of promoting the rule of law rather than tugging on heart strings.

Francisco Hernandez of Lennox has been featured before in The Daily Breeze, and the latest article about his struggles as an illegal alien trying to get by in California showcase how the media, working in tandem with Big Business and Big Amnesty, attempt to present the hardships of illegals and thus the need to allow for pathways to citizenship.

Harvard grad from Lennox squeezed out of job by immigration bureaucracy

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Harvard University graduate Francisco Hernandez sat at home in San Diego last week, unemployed and watching television at 2 in the afternoon.

Poor baby!

It wasn’t his choice. The undocumented 2009 valedictorian of the Lennox Math, Science and Technology Academy should have been teaching his students at the Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High charter school in San Diego.

Arrgh! "Undocumented." No -- illegal! This media-enforced political correctness is very misleading. School children who arrive at their respective campuses without documents proving their residency are also considered "undocumented." If I went to the doctor's office, and the professional did not have any paperwork about me, I would also be "undocumented."

The context for this status has widely different meanings. When it comes to immigration, however, there is a great deal more at stake.

Granted a work permit under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program enacted by President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration in 2012, the 24-year-old noncitizen was abruptly told last Monday he was no longer authorized to hold his job.

Well. Well. Well. President Obama's illegal executive order to pander to illegals actually created more problems for him. If President Obama and his Democratic cohorts really cared about immigration, they would have done something during the first two years of Obama's presidency. His party controlled both houses of Congress, and he enjoyed unprecedented popularity.

Why did Barack Obama do nothing about immigration? Doesn't he care about Hispanics? Doesn't he care about the illegals in our country?

Doesn't he care about Francisco Hernandez?
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GoFundMe: Here’s how to help Hernandez

DOESN’T BLAME SCHOOL

Hernandez, who came to Lennox in the first grade and grew up there, doesn’t blame school officials for sending him home. His DACA work permit expired just weeks ago as he waited for officials to approve a new work permit, which he is eligible for under the federal Violence Against Women Act because his mother was a domestic violence victim.

Does anyone still believe that the answer to many of our problems rests in the federal government? The feds are not even securing the border!

Approval from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services could take another three months, leaving him without income to pay his rent, make his car payment and buy food.

How many law-abiding citizens in the state of California, and throughout the country, are struggling to pay their bills? What about them? When will the press and our elected officials start doing something about their plight?

“I’ve been left in limbo,” said Hernandez, who graduated from Harvard in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

“There’s nothing I can do except worry about counting every penny that I have now. I’m scared I’m going to lose everything I’ve worked hard for.”

What about the millions of legal residents who have worked hard, and yet their own representatives do not work to represent them?

‘DREAMERS’ SEEK WORK PERMIT RENEWALS

Like Hernandez, thousands of young undocumented immigrants across the country who obtained identification cards and work permits in 2012 requested renewals this year, only to discover the system is overwhelmed.

DACA, the president’s quick fix for so-called “Dreamers,” allows undocumented immigrants who were under 16 when their parents brought them to the United States — and younger than 31 in June 2012 — to apply for work permits. “Deferred action” means they would not likely face deportation.

As this article will show, President Obama's illegal actions for illegal aliens have not helped.

Obama’s controversial action during the 2012 presidential campaign remains just as contentious in the 2016 campaign, with a wide range of positions among the candidates. GOP frontrunner Donald Trump wants to deport 11 million undocumented workers to Mexico or their home countries, while Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is pushing to expand Obama’s program with more protections and a path to citizenship.

Free press for Hillary Clinton, too? I wonder if the Daily Breeze had to disclose this article as an in-kind donation to the Hillary Clinton Campaign.

Though he first entered the U.S. legally in first grade, his visa expired and he eventually returned to Mexico for a couple of years. When he came back to America, he ventured through the desert to cross the border illegally.

He is an illegal alien -- and an illegal by choice. Why are we feeling sorry for his plight? He created this problem for himself.

As a young boy, Hernandez grew up in a violent home in Lennox, where his abusive father was prosecuted for beating his mother.

No one should suffer in a violent home. However, there are many young people in American communities who also endure physical abuse at home. Why are their needs being ignored and replaced with concerns about one illegal.

Hernandez, who sometimes stood in the corner and covered his ears to quiet the screaming, excelled in the classroom at Buford Avenue Elementary School, where he made the honor roll, and at the Lennox academy, where he moved to the top of his class, became student body president and earned a 4.0 grade-point average.

Eventually, his father — who was granted amnesty in 1986 — left his wife and children behind for another woman.

Interesting. Amnesty of any kind does not bring families together, at least not every time, as claimed by amnesty proponents.

MOTHER DIAGNOSED WITH ILLNESS

As Hernandez’s mother raised him, she was diagnosed with Takayasu’s arteritis, a rare condition causing blood vessel inflammation that damages the aorta. She underwent surgery and regular hospital visits, and she could not work.

She eventually died of a massive stroke in October 2008, putting Hernandez’s college plans in jeopardy. Fearing Hernandez’s promising future would be derailed, teachers at his school rallied around him. Martial arts teacher Erica Delgado, her husband and daughters offered to house Hernandez for the rest of the school year. He accepted.

As the school year continued, Hernandez applied to several universities and was accepted at four University of California campuses: Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Davis and Berkeley.

NEEDS FINANCIAL AID FOR COLLEGE

But without federal financial aid, which he was not eligible for because of his immigration status, Hernandez had no way of paying for college. He applied to Rice University in Texas, near his sisters’ residence, but was turned down. Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Northwestern and Notre Dame all rejected him.

Finally, Harvard, the last school to reply to his applications, sent a letter accepting Hernandez into its student body. Harvard offered a full-ride scholarship.

His story did not stop there. Although on scholarship, Hernandez still needed an income, but he could not get a job without proper documents. He resorted to dancing in an exotic club to make money, and raising funds online to help him with expenses.

I read about what he went through. Terrible stuff. At the dancing club, it was tantamout to sexual assault what Francicso put himself through.

Watching efforts for immigration reform closely, and fearing he could be deported, Hernandez submitted a petition under the Violence Against Women Act as an immigrant child of an abusive parent with legal status. If approved, he would be granted deferred action status, making him a low priority for deportation and allowing him to apply for a work permit.

When Obama took executive action on DACA in 2012, Hernandez’s VAWA petition was still pending, so his immigration attorney at the time suggested he apply for a work permit through DACA.

RECEIVES PERMIT TO WORK

The DACA petition was approved and he received a two-year work permit. A short time later, his VAWA petition also was approved. With his work status appearing settled, he graduated and was hired to teach Spanish at the San Diego high school. He recently started his third year and hoped to eventually get a green card, but that might take seven years.

Legal status is the ultimate goal for all immigrants - all the more reason why it needs to be done LEGALLY.

“I love being an educator,” Hernandez said. “My goal is to be an educational psychologist. That’s how I got through my problems. Ultimately, I want to become a school psychologist in juvenile detention centers.”

When Hernandez recently applied for a DACA renewal without the help of an attorney, federal officials denied his request, saying he now had deferred action status through VAWA, so his work permit had to be processed under the VAWA provisions, said his current attorney, Brooke Alexander Parr.

Hernandez has applied but it will take several months to secure the work permit.

How many out-of-work Americans are there? Why are they not getting special treatment or attention from the government, the political class, the media? 

SCHOOL HAD NO CHOICE

Hernandez said his school’s director had no choice. He wanted to keep Hernandez on staff, but could not without a work permit. Hernandez was placed on a leave of absence Monday, and terminated Thursday.

How interesting - the school district and the school officials have to obey the law, but the President does not, and the illegals who enter this country without following the law somehow do not have to follow the law either.

The school did the right thing, but they also should not have hired Hernandez in the first place, since his status was unstable to begin with.

Hernandez said he wanted to go to school to say goodbye to his students, but the director told him it was best not to upset the students.

“I’ve been a wreck, knowing I can’t even say goodbye and tell them how proud I am of them and to do their best with the new teacher,” Hernandez said. “This completely sucks. They tried everything. I appreciate it but there is nothing they can do. It’s not their fault.”

This issue of fault cannot be ignored. Fernandez put himself in much of this choosing to remain illegal rather than seeking help, support, or deferment, even as an adult. The article focuses on the feelings, the pain. "I have been a wreck." I want the Daily Breeze to talk about the pain and frustration of legal residents who worked for years, played by the rules, passed all the tests, paid all the fees to become legal residents. How many sleepless nights did law-abiding  migrants face when processing their own papers? The parents and the children in these families must have endured considerable pressure, setbacks, and upsets.

I would like to read those stories.

SCHOOL OFFICIALS INFORM STUDENTS

On Friday, school officials notified the students. Hernandez sent a letter to them, explaining his immigration issue.

“You have made me so incredibly proud to be an educator, and I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing group of students to have this semester,” he wrote. “Thank you for inspiring me and pushing me. This all makes it so much harder for me to have to step away for the time being.”

Hernandez recently was accepted into the USC School of Social Work to pursue a master’s degree in mental health and school psychology. He was not eligible to apply for federal aid, so he deferred his course work for a year.

Francisco Hernandez (LinkedIn)

Hernandez wanted to further his education, but he could not be bothered to solidify his immigration status. Ridiculous.

Hernandez hopes he can get his job back once his work permit comes through, possibly in January.

“Our immigration system is broken,” Hernandez said. “Hardworking people like me who mean nothing but the best, who see this country as their own, get screwed every day.”

The system is not broken, but rather not enforced.


That's the problem. With numerous opportunities to set his status straight, to reach out and get himself legal, Fernandez was pursuing higher degrees instead.

President Obama had Congress at his control to pass immigration policy, and did nothing.

His executive orders have only made the problem worse, and have done nothing to undo the fact that this county remains a nation of laws. The answer is not more disregard for our statutes and our borders, but enforcement and a proper established respect for our laws, our culture, and the rule of law.

Final Reflection:

Why is the Daily Breeze printing this article? Why is the Daily Breeze reporting on Francisco Hernandez? There are plenty of other poor minority youth in and around the South Bay -- legal residents -- who are facing tough trials and challenges.

Hernandez does not even live in Lennox or the South Bay area anymore, anyway.

This column is another classic example of Big Media putting together an easy tear-jerker while promoting Big Amnesty. The Daily Breeze could be reporting on the Torrance School Board race, or other races throughout the South Bay this year.

There are growing drug problems affecting South Bay youth of all colors and backgrounds, even in Torrance and Palos Verdes.

Most importantly, this article ironically exposes why President Obama's extra-legal maneuvering has actually created more problems for our country's immigration issues. If the President and his political colleagues, Democrat and Republican, really wanted to make thieving working out for the better, they would start by enforcing the existing law, not permitting families to put their children in these terrible plights. Furthermore, order security is a must, and requiring status as a condition of enrollment in public schools would also fix problems like the one described and fawned upon at length in the above article.

Ronald Reagan granted amnesty -- and it actually helped break up Francisco's family.

President Obama issues executive amnesty, and makes matters worse for illegal aliens.

This illegal alien, Francisco, did nothing to fix his status. Nothing.

It's time to hold the media as well as our political class accountable.

Cities are for citizens, and they need our country and our countrymen's support more than illegals.