Did You Know...

Sovereignty? What sovereignty? The Tri-Valley Herald headlines a story about illegal alien students registering voters and lobbying for the shamnesty college tuition break DREAM Act this way: “Legal or not, immigrants are getting political on campus.”

Jose Ruiz is like many college students.

He’s outspoken. He’s politically active. And, most importantly, he wants to make sure as many people as possible hit the polls come Election Day.

Why? Because he can’t. Ruiz is an illegal immigrant.

Buoyed by Super Tuesday’s record Latino voter turnout, a San Jose State University student group — made up of both legal and illegal residents — is planning a widespread, grass-roots campaign to register voters, especially those who can speak for them at the polls.

“I don’t need to live in the shadows anymore,” said Ruiz, a 24-year-old San Jose State student whose mother brought him from Mexico on a tourist visa when he was a child.

The campaign is already sparking some controversy, with immigrant advocates applauding the students’ efforts and opponents arguing their efforts could have grave consequences for U.S. citizens. No matter the reaction, though, it’s another step forward for the group known as Student Advocates for Higher Education, which has challenged lawmakers to pass a bill granting certain illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship if they graduate from college…

… Such activism is nothing new, but experts say this movement, led by illegal immigrants enrolled in college, is the latest phenomenon to grow from marches held across the country in 2006 to call attention to immigration reform.

Those marches, experts believe, may have played a role in the unprecedented number of Latinos who turned out to vote in California’s Democratic presidential primary Feb. 5.

“It encouraged and politicized people,” said Stanford University history Professor Al Camarillo, considered an expert on Latino issues.

Anyone can lead a voter registration drive, academics have noted, but it’s unusual for those who are legally barred from participating in democracy to take such strides to play a part in the electoral process.

An inconvenient reminder for you about where the leading presidential candidates stand on the DREAM Act illegal alien magnet:

Hillary is for it.

Obama is for it.

John McCain wasn’t just for it. He was a co-sponsor of The DREAM Act in 2005 and 2007, led the fight for the comprehensive shamnesty bill that included the DREAM Act of 2006.

What would he say about illegal alien students registering American voters?

His half-hearted robo-answer vowing to “Secure the Borders” is not sufficient.