Illegal Immigration: Graduates become more vulnerable to deportation

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10352914

Published Sunday June 8, 2008
Illegal Immigration: Graduates become more vulnerable to deportation
BY CINDY GONZALEZ
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

It's date night and Mayte, dolled up in American Eagle jeans and a senior class T-shirt, walks with her boyfriend toward the movie theater.


Because recent high school graduate Mayte is an illegal immigrant, she said she doesn't go out much. When she and her boyfriend, a U.S. citizen, do go to a movie, she can't produce an ID that proves she is 18 and old enough to see fare that's rated R or NC-17.


The two glance at the marquee, confer, then opt for the action flick "Rambo." To a bystander, it seems another easygoing outing for a young couple.

Yet as she draws nearer to the ticket counter, anxiousness envelops the girl, whose baby face belies her 18 years. She avoids eye contact.

Moments like this - ordinary and routine for most teenagers - pack drama and the risk of humiliation for youths such as Mayte.

She is an illegal immigrant, brought to Omaha at age 7. Without identification to prove her age, she is often rejected from R-rated movies - and it doesn't stop there.

Opening a bank account requires identification, and so does cashing a check. Mayte is ineligible for a driver's license. A job, legally, is out of the question.

Post-high school plans?

Now that she has graduated, Mayte is more vulnerable than ever to legal entanglements and deportation.

For all the undocumented members of the Class of 2008, navigating life just got harder.

FULL story at link.