Let ‘Illegal’ Kids Dare to Dream

* I appreciate Agustin Gurza bringing up an issue that goes beyond the aspirations of two Galaxy soccer players (April 25 column).

I hope that readers can see beyond the word “illegal.” Very often legality and morality do not line up. In 1860, slavery was legal in Southern states.

Let’s face it. We cannot keep out illegal immigrants, and we don’t want to. In many cases, while speaking out against illegal workers, people have gardeners and house cleaners they pay on the side.

As a teacher in Santa Ana, I see thousands of bright and promising students who have lived in Orange County since they were young, often since kindergarten.

They dare to dream that they can attend college like their “legal” peers. Yet without residency, they can neither work, drive, nor attend college legally.

It was not their decision as 6-year-olds to dodge Immigration and Naturalization Service agents on the border. The only home they know is the U.S.

Do we expect these children with 1300 SAT scores that we have invested in to simply return to Grandma’s casa en el pueblo and raise cows? This is absurd.

Gurza is right. We are the losers when we hold back students of promise. Every high school graduate that has lived here since sixth grade can pass expectancy tests, has decent grades, and has a clean criminal record should be granted a provisional residence, good for five years, to work, drive and attend a university or college.

If they remain in good standing with the law, grant full residence and allow them to get their citizenship.

JAMES JOHNSON

Santa Ana

* Re “Program Helps to Bridge Cultural Divides,” (April 29):

Agustin Gurza’s April 29 column regarding cultural competency discusses a program in Orange County which will teach nurses to be sensitive to other cultures.

I believe what he is speaking to isn’t so much culturally related as it is common sense and human related.

The fact that he is supporting sensitivity to the needs of ailing people is great. Having come from a small town in the Midwest to a big city of the West when I was little (as many did in the ‘50s and ‘60s), our family struggled with the aggressiveness of the big city. We still do today.

JAY NEUHAUS

Aliso Viejo