I’ll call her Jan. Her real name is much more Latino — beautifully Latino.

A middle-schooler, she has mastered two languages, and is working on a third. She is an exceptional student.

She speaks with an accent — a Carolina accent! She is well-mannered, is developing a strong Christian faith and has a great attitude.

Jan has many Latino counterparts who also have learned to speak English, who excell in their schoolwork, but who will not be allowed to attend a state university in North Carolina.

Unless they were born on USAmerican soil, they are facing hostility from a country that they love, and a state they dare to call home.

Besides, the state politicians tell us, why educate these young adults? Even if they are willing to work extra jobs to afford out-of-state tuition. Even if they have lived most of their lives in North Carolina. They are never going to be allowed to “legally” work here. So the politicians tell us.

Apparently we do not need their giftedness, their strong work ethic, their humility in the face of increasing hostility!

Jan is a little luckier than most. She was born on USAmerican soil, as were her siblings. Her mom has loved her, encouraged her, and sacrificed greatly for her. Yet this wonderfully committed single mom faces the threat of deportation daily.

Jan’s mom is one of those “illegals” that we keep hearing about. One of those hard-working, determined-against-the-odds, proud-to-be-in-the-USAmerica-if-not-a-citizen “illegals”. The ones that some politicians seem to be blaming for the loss of exported jobs, the mortgage banking crisis, and possibly global warming!

The undocumented immigrants are not to blame for the sluggish economy. In fact, they are suffering from it just like everyone else.

Never mind that they rent and furnish houses, buy groceries and household items, and participate fully in the USAmerican economy!

Never mind that for decades these people have picked our fruit, cleaned our houses, groomed our grounds, and oh yes, built our homes.

Never mind that, when allowed, many are paying income taxes as a matter of principle.

Never mind that these families are raising first generation citizens, some who are serving in our armed forces.

Never mind that many of these “never-can-be-citizens” are practicing better citizenship than many whose status is never questioned.

Just get the “illegals” off USAmerican soil, our state politicians tell us, and we will be a better nation somehow. After all, we are a nation of law, and laws must be enforced!

The same “nation of law” that tried to force a proud indigenous nation to walk from North Carolina to Oklahoma, only to grant the “illegals” (those hold-outs who hid in the mountains) a refuge in what we know as Cherokee, North Carolina.

A “nation of law” that allowed its states to declare “illegal” any black man or woman who dared escape forced servitude — only to later declare the “illegality” itself illegal!

“Illegals” are not new to North Carolina, nor is the ability to create new and better laws when the old ones prove to be inhumane and unuseful.

Jan may well graduate from one of our state public universities, no doubt at the top of her class and with honors.

Whether or not she chooses to live and work in North Carolina may depend on how her family is treated in the next few years.