Texas Valedictorian and Scholarship Recipient Reveals She’s an ‘Undocumented Immigrant’
This young woman’s revelation has stirred some controversy.
NBC News reports.
Texas Valedictorian, Scholarship Recipient Under Fire for Tweeting She’s Undocumented
A young valedictorian from Texas has stirred controversy after she tweeted that she will be attending the University of Texas-Austin with a full scholarship and that she is undocumented.
Mayte Lara Ibarra, a graduate of Crockett High School in Austin, Texas, tweeted photos of herself after graduation and mentioned her 4.5 GPA, her 13 cords and medals and her immigration status.
More than 9,400 retweets and almost 20,000 likes later, Ibarra deactivated her Twitter account due to the negative backlash and threats she received for her viral tweet.
One tweet included a person’s apparent tip to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s anonymous tip line.
During Crockett High’s recent graduation ceremony on June 3, Ibarra introduced the Pledge of Allegiance as well as the National Anthem.
During her speech as class valedictorian, Ibarra spoke of the hard work her class put in and what their future might hold, but she didn’t mention her immigration history.
Texas is one of 17 states that allows undocumented students who graduated from an in-state high school or earned a GED to receive in-state tuition.
“In accordance with state law, Texas universities — including the University of Texas schools —have for decades granted two-semester tuition waivers to valedictorians of Texas public high schools, without regard to their residency status,” Kylie Fitzpatrick, a media relations specialist at UT Austin said in a statement. “State law also does not distinguish between documented and undocumented graduates of Texas high schools in admissions and financial aid decisions. University policies reflect that law.”
Texas Valedictorian, Scholarship Recipient Under Fire for Tweeting She's Undocumented (NBC News)
Comments
One the one hand we have a high school not willing to have a valedictorian because it will make the other students feel bad and on the other we have a high school celebrating someone who shouldn’t have been in the country in the first place. I wonder how the salutatorian feels today or the person who might have gotten her college scholarship instead. When does US citizenship count for something?
I do not discredit her hard work to get where she is academically but she broke the law of the land(United States of America). That makes her a criminal who stole from others, She stole from Tax paying Americans for her free education. She stole from American students who deserved everything she received because they are true citizens of this once wonderful country. I blame her and the disgrace we call a government.
When does US citizenship count for something? It does mean a dam thing now because it is the united states of mexico now. The people with rights are non-citizens.