An anecdote about an undocumented alien…

A boy was born in Canada, adopted by an American couple who brought their child to the U.S. where he was raised. The crux of the story lies in the fact that prior to 1970, children adopted by or born to American nationals were not automatically conferred American citizenship (is this true?). These children had to apply for citizenship through regular channels (or have it done on their behalf). Our protagonist was unaware of his undocumented status and had assumed he was an American citizen… he has voted, participated in political campaigns and even ran for office. When he applied for travel documents from the U.S. State Department, he discovered he was an undocumented alien. He had broken the law when he voted and ran for office. He is liable for prosecution under election laws. He has since been able to procure a green card from INS. I am not clear what his other legal issues are but I am told he is fighting a legal battle over 'the principle' of his situation.

I am not an immigration lawyer nor do I understand 'the principle' at stake but I want to compare his situation to that of the Dream Act 'kids' (who, like our protagonist, are self-identified Americans). As I see it, these are children who were brought to the states illegally but they themselves have unblemished slates. So 'the principle' is that our undocumented Canadian who has broken election laws should be rewarded with legal status and a straight shot to citizenship but Dream Act 'kids' who have never violated the law should be punished with deportation?

The problem with Dream Act 'kids' is they have no legal status. It is neither legal nor illegal to not deport them [so far as I understand it, there is not law that says all 'illegal aliens' _must_ be deported] and there are legal ways to deport them. The solution is to give undocumented aliens some degree of legal status. This goes to a theme which I've covered before and will certainly return to again… the legal system is constructed by human beings so humans can choose to endow it with some degree of humanist principles.