The dysfunctional nature of our immigration system can have no greater example than the likely deportation of Vidal Tapia.

The Paterson high school senior immigrated illegally to the United States five years ago, when he was 14. He became a stellar student and is set to be the valedictorian at International High School.

But he may not get the chance to walk with his fellow students.

Tapia immigrated here illegally about five years ago. Since then, his petition for U.S. residency has been accepted and an interview for a green card was scheduled for Wednesday at the consulate in Ciudad Juarez. But because he unlawfully crossed the border and now is an adult, he is likely to face a 10-year ban from setting foot on U.S. soil, regardless of whether he qualifies for residency status. That would mean no commencement speech in June, no diploma in the near future and no American job possibilities until he’s in his 30s.

“I’m here to continue my education. My hope in this country is to become better and better,” said Tapia, sitting in a school conference room Thursday. “Having to go back will disturb all that — all my goals.”

Had the DREAM Act passed Congress last year, Tapia undoubtedly would be a prime candidate. That legislation would have permitted undocumented students to pursue higher education and citizenship. Tapia has already taken a statistics class at Passaic County Community College and began college-level algebra before being removed because of his immigration status. After completing a 12-week engineering program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, he was offered a $10,000 scholarship to attend the university full time.

But the DREAM Act was voted down, and Tapia now has a plane ticket to Mexico on Sunday, with an entire community behind him fearing he won’t return.

Obviously, it is important that we control our borders, though how we do that and what that means for the free movement of human beings is rarely discussed. The debate in the United States has become one in which politicians fight to see who can come up with the most punitive measures for undocumented immigrants and not one in which we dispassionately consider the question of human rights.

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Here is a response to my posting on the federal court ruling on the Arizona “Papers please” law:

You are obviously an idiot.
This is not about Fearing Mexican Nationals.

This is about National Security. I understand you on the left don’t really give a flip about National Security and as long as you are affected by it, who gives a flip.

You on the left remind me of the Movie Independance Day, when the idiots climbed up atop the building to wowwy zowwy, zippy zappy the “ALIENS” and try to make nice with them. Right before they were vaporized.

There is nothing racist in the Arizona Bill. Sooner or later WE,THE PEOPLE WILL TAKE CARE OF A MESS THE GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO DEAL WITH.

First though November 2 and the draining of the swamp in D.C.

Is this what passes for debate these days? Name-calling? Tarring with a broad brush?

I am not opposed to a serious discussion of the Arizona law, including discussions of:

• how requiring the presentation of papers squares with the Bill of Rights,
• how the rights of legal immigrants and citizens will not be violated or should not be of concern,
• what impact the law will have on law enforcement,
• what the law actually will accomplish, and so on.

What we don’t need are ugly screeds calling into question the patriotism of the law’s critics.

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• Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.

A federal judge has temporarily stopped the clock on Arizona’s punitive immigration law, citing several sections that would impose unnecessary and unconstitutional burdens on both legal immigrants and citizens. The ruling does not end things and only moves the process a step closer to the Supreme Court.

That ultimate fate, unfortunately, still gives the xenophobes home-court advantage, given the conservative majority on the court. That makes it imperative that Congress and the president get serious about immigration reform and not wait.

• Send me an e-mail.
• Read poetry at The Subterranean.
• Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.