Board of Regents can’t alter immigration policy for one Bulldog
Georgia recruit Chester Brown (left) had scholarship hopes derailed by the state's policy on illegal immigrants and undocumented students. (Photo by 247Sports.com)
Don Balfour picked up the phone and said the first thing that you would expect when a Georgia state senator gets a phone call from a sportswriter.
“I don’t normally talk to sportswriters,” he said.
To which I responded that I don’t normally talk to politicians, unless you count commissioners, owners, general managers, coaches, some athletes, their agents, public-relations directors … on second thought, never mind.
Sports and politics overlapped this week. Chester Brown, a 6-foot-5, 340-pound mountain of a teenager, was forced to withdraw his commitment to the Georgia football team because of an immigration issue.
This is where things get kind of screwy. Brown is the son of Samoan immigrants. His mother says Brown was born in the United States, not Samoa, and is a citizen, but the family apparently doesn’t have the proper documentation to prove it. This precludes him from accepting a scholarship from UGA, given the Board of Regents’ tough immigration policy that was passed in July 2011 in the wake of a case involving a Kennesaw State student, Jessica Colotl (who erroneously received in-state tuition, despite being an illegal immigrant).
It’s not my intention to turn this into a column on the illegal-immigration problem in the United States, but I think we can all agree that when the Board of Regents declared that undocumented students and illegal immigrants can’t take away seats from academically qualified Georgia students, nobody figured it would affect the Georgia football team.
Immigration policies are intended to keep the nation safe and protect taxpayers, not wreck pass protection against the Alabama defense.
Balfour is one of the strongest proponents of the Board of Regents’ immigration policy. He acknowledged, “Never in a million years did any of us think this would affect a football team.”
But this case doesn’t cause him to rethink things. Another supporter of the policy, Georgia alum and Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, agrees.
Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) said, "My blood is red and black," but he doesn't second-guess the immigration policy. (Bob Andres/AJC)
“You can’t get into the business of making laws tailored to individuals,” Ehrhart said. “I went to school at Georgia. I graduated from there in 1980. My blood is red and black. I love going to football games. But does it make me not want to enact certain [policies]? No.”
So he’ll tell that to the fans who are sitting next to him in Sanford Stadium?
“Oh yeah, thanks a lot. Am I going to wear a T-shirt [advertising it]? No. There’s no self-preservation in that.”
Brown is an unfortunate byproduct of the illegal-immigrant issue. It’s hard not to feel for the kid. He couldn’t control where he was born or whom he was born to.
He went to school in Hinesville after relocating with his family from Long Beach, Calif., in 2004. He accumulated a 3.2 grade-point average and obviously has excelled on the football field. When he showed up at Georgia’s “Dawg Night,” a summer prospect camp, he looked like manna from heaven for a program with offensive line problems.
Brown was offered a scholarship on the spot. Brown gave his commitment, and he was so excited that he had the date, July 15, 2011, tattooed on his arm.
But now there’s some question where he’s from and whether he can prove it. Ironically, Balfour said, it would be easy for Brown to get into UGA if he wasn’t a U.S. citizen because then he would need only apply for a student visa. His claim of being a U.S. citizen mandates he have proper documentation. For unknown reasons, that has not been supplied by the family. (Brown can still attend a school in a state with less-restrictive policies and is looking at Syracuse, Central Florida and Tulane.)
Here’s what shouldn’t be lost in all of this: A law is a law (or in this case, a policy is a policy). Any Georgia fan, conservative or liberal, who has long supported tougher immigration laws can’t suddenly claim their beloved Bulldogs are being wronged.
“I definitely feel bad for the kid,” Balfour said. “I hate that he’s caught in the middle of this.”
Then he added, tongue-in-cheek, the obligatory southern college football conspiracy theory.
“I think this policy must’ve been started by someone from Georgia Tech,” he joked.
By Jeff Schultz
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240 comments Add your comment
Alphare
January 27th, 2012
11:15 am
From Earl Ehrhart’s complexion, he looks like a Mexican to me. Trying to stand up to his own people to show his “conservative” toughness?
MountainDawg
January 27th, 2012
11:18 am
The law was overdue and much needed. Sorry for this kid, but he’ll land a scholarship to another D1 school.
icedawg
January 27th, 2012
11:22 am
If he was born in the US there’s gotta be a way to substantiate it. If he was born here then he should get a good attorney because there are far greater implications that simply playing football.
Dirty Dawg
January 27th, 2012
11:26 am
What a bunch of reactionary idiots this State has become. Foreign nationals are being offered scholarships to play at every school in the country…except, apparently, us. As I said, idiotic peckerwoods and proud of it.
Alphare
January 27th, 2012
11:28 am
Back in the days lots of Italians sneaked into this country. They were welcomed with “No Italians” or “No Irish” signs.
Now the descendants of the Irish and Italians erected signs “No Mexicans”.
Has history taught anybody anything?
GT
January 27th, 2012
11:33 am
Much needed? In the top ten things “much needed” where do you rank this? And the state of Georgia who can’t even run a good speed trap anymore is going to tell the rest of the country how we can do things? The kid is not going to be booted out of the country he is going to be playing football for one of the other 40 something states that have bigger fish to fry that our enlighten state. Take a good look at Georgia look at its ranking, that is if you are one of the lucky ones in this state that can read, another one to put on the much needed list but who is counting, who even knows how to count?
Matt
January 27th, 2012
11:37 am
Nor should they.
Steve- He can blame his parents, not the State. Kids with 2.5 don’t get in to UGA. THis kid is still going to get a free college education. It’s not like he’s out on the streets now.
News | MrSEC
January 27th, 2012
11:39 am
[...] from a 16-point halftime deficit to avoid an upset at Ole Miss.2. Who would have dreamed that the Georgia football program would be dealing with immigration issues?3. When John Calipari’s team travels to LSU tomorrow, they’ll be facing a former [...]
Highlands
January 27th, 2012
12:11 pm
As a Bulldog fan and, more importantly, a Georgia taxpayer, I’m completely fine with this. I know most of you dipshits have never been to the United States Supreme Court, but right there over the big, white columns out front it says “EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW”. This law, like all others, is applied to everyone.Hate it for the kid, but blame mama for losing your birth certificate.
Too tough
January 27th, 2012
12:14 pm
prove the birth or file another status…Go Dawgs
harold
January 27th, 2012
12:14 pm
HOW STUPID IS THIS????????????????????????????????
Farm Dawg
January 27th, 2012
12:20 pm
Speaking as a farmer and small business owner, the law is wrong. It was born in hate and is going to ruin this great state. Many of us are having a problem bringing in a crop or managing agri-businesses and other states are going to pick up that slack. Every one of those immigrant people (legal and illegal) are paying taxes and shopping in your stores and caring for your elderly relatives and mowing your lawns and putting food on your table. Hating “other” people is as old as history and apparently alive and well in Georgia.
@ Supersize D-bag loser
January 27th, 2012
12:35 pm
“but the world doesn’t revolve around UGA effing football.”
Says the bitter, friendless, idiotic, dishonest Tech troll that uses a freaking moniker that is devoted to UGA football on a pathetic 24/7 basis.
Can this creepy troll please get banned already??
ramguy68
January 27th, 2012
12:42 pm
@Matt THis kid is still going to get a free college education. It’s not like he’s out on the streets now.
Free???? Unless I missed something I would assume that you are implying that since he will get a scholarship to play football at a D-1 school that he will be getting an education for free. I hear that kind of remark over and over. It’s amusing. If you knew what these kids go through and how hard they have to work you might not say that so flippantly.
2012 Preseason Fulmer Cup Champs
January 27th, 2012
12:57 pm
GO DAWGS WOOF WOOF!!!!!!
http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2012/1/25/2732435/fulmer-cupdate-you-get-no-bonus-points-for-smelling-so-damn-good
tu87
January 27th, 2012
12:59 pm
Born in the USA but don’t have a birth certificate. Please……
2012 Preseason Fulmer Cup Champs
January 27th, 2012
1:06 pm
“Any Georgia fan, conservative or liberal, who has long supported tougher immigration laws can’t suddenly claim their beloved Bulldogs are being wronged.”
How many illegals trim the hedges every year?
5150 UOAD
January 27th, 2012
1:07 pm
GT change your name to cry’n Harvard libtard.
Matt Ryan
January 27th, 2012
1:59 pm
“We are all immigrants just most of us are legal immigrants”
No, we are not. Most of us were born here in the USA.
“Speaking as a farmer and small business owner, the law is wrong. It was born in hate and is going to ruin this great state.”
Hate? Your apparent interest is assuring a supply of cheap labor outside of the purview of OSHA and other regulatory constraints. You, sir, are breaking the law if you knowingly employ illegal immigrants. I reject your notion this law was born of “hate”; it was born of respect for the rule of law and the desire to clean up the expense and exploitation caused by illegal immigration. Yes, the exploitation.
DawgDad
January 27th, 2012
2:01 pm
Hey, if I offended anyone by posting as “Matt Ryan” I apologize. Used that on a sports blog and forgot to change it here.
Pointing out the obvious
January 27th, 2012
2:20 pm
5150 UOAD is obviously one of supertrolls other handles that he uses to talk to himself.
Alphare
January 27th, 2012
2:20 pm
Matt Ryan,
are you an Indian? otherwise how can you be legal? or more specifically your 1st ancestor be legal? did the Indians invite him or he was not an Indian?
what do elementary, middle, and high schools require?
January 27th, 2012
3:31 pm
Was he born in a barn or a hospital? Seriously, if he were born here, there should be a birth certificate at the very least.
What have his parents been doing for 18 years? Blame them for their slackness. Or are they possibly lying?
I feel bad for the kid also for having dumb parents in this regard.
heartofdarkness
January 27th, 2012
3:32 pm
When Rick Santorum’s grandfather came to this country (my guess is between 1880 and 1910), there was no limit on the number of immigrants to the US. Identities were checked to insure inbound individuals were not a subject of interest to the European security apparatus that grew out of the Congress of Vienna, but otherwise, welcome aboard. There weren’t many immigration laws to break.
Organized labor pressure and concerns about high unemployment in Europe after WWI that might flood onto US markets helped establish immigration quotas. It is quite likely that as the bulge in the population represented by the boomer generation passes from the scene and the American population begins to decline, the need for labor will expand or remove the quotas. Thankfully, immigration has not been a moral issue in this country, but one of pragmatics, that are the proper concern of sovereigns.
What is of overarching concern in the case of this young man is that he may have no documentation to establish his citizenship in any political entity. If that is the case, one would hope a forum might be available to him capable of producing for him a legally enforceable status. In the Information Age, there can be no satisfactory argument for letting people fall through the cracks to suffer a permanent legal disability.
man without a country?
January 27th, 2012
3:35 pm
Ga tech can get some kid from Australia but there’s trouble with an American?
Kids get in all the time from other countries, why can’t he just say F it and say he’s from Samoa and would like a visa and that scholarship? He obviously doesn’t have any other documents.
man without a country?
January 27th, 2012
3:37 pm
What were his parents thinking? Call up the hospital he was born in to get a birth certificate.
Was he born in an American hospital?
Errrrrr
January 27th, 2012
3:43 pm
Richard Tardits anyone?
GT is a 4th rate High School team
January 27th, 2012
3:49 pm
Yeah, those North Ave HS fans and alums did it. LOL
13-1
January 27th, 2012
9:59 pm
AJ-C sportswriters are lazy. All this time. All these stories. And, this is all the lot of you can come up with ?
“[Chester] Brown is the son of Samoan immigrants. His mother says Brown was born in the United States, not Samoa, and is a citizen, but the family apparently doesn’t have the proper documentation to prove it.”
Jeff Schultz, that is weasel-wording. How about doing some
REPORTING ?
None of you, after all this time, has come out and said that you researched it and here is the story.
None of you expect to win the Peabody Award the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication gives out,
do you ?
RedandBlackDAWG
January 28th, 2012
9:58 am
Dirty Dawg,
Take a look at the illegal population of this state compared to total population and against other states. I think then you might understand more about why this law was enacted. It has nothing to do with being narrow minded or racially motivated as far as this young man goes, as it is more intended to prevent the mass exodus of Central and South Americans migrating into this country. Tax dollars that this state can ill afford to waste are being used to care for these folks in a lot of incidences, so something has to be done, or taxes will continue to rise for the middle class citizen, the main payer of taxes in this state.
aprilglaspie
January 28th, 2012
10:43 am
Xenophobic, nativist, know-nothing idiocy.
Change the rules!
January 29th, 2012
12:32 pm
Georgia football brings in millions in revenue for the state—the legislature should make special rules for football recruits due to all this money they make. Hopefully, they change the law this year!
This is Mrs. Norman Maine
January 29th, 2012
5:54 pm
” I think we can all agree that when the Board of Regents declared that undocumented students and illegal immigrants can’t take away seats from academically qualified Georgia students, nobody figured it would affect the Georgia football team.”
LMAO!!! Because if they had, I can assure you they would have thought three times about that policy before implementing it. I promise you that!
Chester Brown: Ex-UGA OL recruit will sign with Central Florida | AJC College Sports Recruiting
January 30th, 2012
2:21 am
[...] The AJC’s Jeff Schultz wrote an super column on the dilemma that you can read by clicking here. [...]
Just Wonderin'
January 30th, 2012
8:34 am
“Immigration policies are intended to keep the nation safe and protect taxpayers, not wreck pass protection against the Alabama defense.”
That’s assuming Georgia will play Alabama some time in the future….
Ordinary Citizen
January 30th, 2012
9:30 am
Since someone mentioned praying to God that this would all work out so the kid could attend UGA, I recommend a different prayer. Let’s quit referring to undocumented immigrants as “illegal.” No where in the bible are the undocumented referred to as illegals. The laws handed down by God in the Old Testament specially say they are entitled to full rights and dignity. In the New Testament Jesus was never referred to as “illegal’ though by the standard now set by the Board of Regents he would be, since every time he left his region, including his sojourn in Egypt, he would be. Shame on us for making undocumented individuals the scapegoat for our lack of civility, compassion and unity.
mydverey
January 30th, 2012
10:19 am
Hello there . Advise beg . Once we look Liska women’s shoes ?
Sincerely, Alexander sidochuk .
Georgia Board of Regents’ Illegal Immigrant Policy Costs Bulldogs an Offensive Line Recruit : YOU GO USA
January 31st, 2012
2:16 am
[...] immigrants. Targeting a loyal mountebanks (Canadians overstaying their visas), they didn’t expect an bootleg newcomer competence be an descent line awaiting committed to Georgia, according to a [...]
Danny No'
January 31st, 2012
2:43 am
@#$% politicians and their short sighted policies. All cases are unique and to try and place an all engrossing law on such issues is idiocy. Die in a fire!
Dawgator
January 31st, 2012
10:41 am
Young man heah needs a little he’p from some good Jawjah fans: Thinking of Fisher or Muschamp.