Connect with us

News

McKinney Boyd High School Texas Valedictorian Reveals She’s Illegally in U.S. in Graduation Speech

Published

on

McKinney Boyd High School Texas Valedictorian Reveals She's Illegally in U.S. in Graduation Speech

A North Texas high school valedictorian gave quite a different kind of commencement speech at a graduation ceremony on Friday. She announced she was in the United States illegally, blamed the U.S. immigration system for her illegal status, and even took a few veiled swipes at the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.

McKinney Boyd High School valedictorian Larissa Martinez also mentioned she was Yale University bound when she stood before a packed auditorium and declared: “I am one of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows of the United States.”

Eleven million is the often quoted and questioned U.S. government statistic of illegal immigrants living in the United States. Martinez stated that sharing this information about her status was part of one of her life struggles. “After all of these years, I have finally mustered up the courage to stand before you and share a struggle I’ve had to deal with each and every day.”

Martinez later told Dallas’ WFAA 8 in an interview that her Ivy League college education is funded on a full-ride scholarship. She hopes to go to med school.

During her speech, Martinez also said she decided to make her immigration status, which she again referred to as “undocumented,” a focal point of her valedictorian speech because of the “great divide of opinion on the topic of immigration in America.”She asserted: “We are here without official documentation because the U.S. immigration system is broken and it has forced many families to live in fear.”Following her declaration, she said: “Undocumented immigrants are people too.”Martinez became a little emotional. Attendees and graduates of the McKinney Independent School District erupted into hoots, hollers and thunderous applause.

Although she never mentioned billionaire real estate mogul and presumptive GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump by name, Martinez stated: “The most important part of the debate and is often overlooked is that immigrants, undocumented or otherwise, are people too.  People with dreams, aspirations, hopes and loved ones. People like me. People who have become a part of the American society and way of life and who yearn to help make ‘America great again’ without the construction of a wall built on hatred and prejudice.”

Martinez admitted to WFAA 8 that she purposefully alluded to Trump in her speech. “I didn’t know if people would pick up on that, but I knew, and that made me feel better so,” she stated.

In the course of her nearly nine minute speech, Martinez addressed a few of her other life struggles. “On July 11 it will be exactly six years since I moved to McKinney from Mexico City where I was born and raised.” WFAA 8 reported that Martinez, her sister, and mother jetted into Texas from Mexico in 2010 and live in a one-bedroom apartment in McKinney, a desirable middle class suburb north of Dallas.

Other struggles Martinez shared from the podium included memories of being 11 years old and having an abusive and alcoholic father back in Mexico City, where she said she was born and raised. She segued recollections at the age of 12 and her struggle with living in the U.S. where had to embrace and fit into a “new culture.” She asserted that “often her intelligence was questioned” based on her background. She asserted she had to give up a part of her childhood to help raise her little sister since their mother, Deyanira Contreras, worked day and night to support the girls once living in Texas.

She told the other McKinney high school graduates and their families that she was a girl whose dream was to “one day become an American.”

Although, to date, she is not legal. “I myself have been living 7 years for my application to be processed.” She hoped everyone left the graduation ceremony knowing that “we are trying to do it the right way but we don’t know how.”

It is not known if Martinez has applied for or obtained temporary legal status under President Obama’s executive amnesty plan, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Martinez asked everyone in attendance to look beyond the “way the media portrays us” and to overlook those “dehumanizing accusations that some politicians have made.” She wanted people to “keep your heart open” and try to find “the love and understanding that makes us human.”

In the speech, she thanked her mother who instead of moving mountains “moved countries for me and my sister.” Martinez wrapped up her remarks by saying that while she is no expert on life, she is living proof that “beating the system is possible.”

Prior to Friday’s graduation ceremony, only 10 people in the McKinney Independent School District knew she was living illegally in the U.S., she told WFAA 8.  The local TV news outlet also reported she had a 4.95 GPA and took 17 AP classes while in high school.

The Collin County Democrats, whose Twitter motto is “Let’s Go Blue,” hailed Martinez as their “hero of the week.”

The valedictorian’s speech ended with a standing ovation.

In addition to Martinez, another illegal immigrant high school valedictorian in Texas spoke her mind this week. Breitbart Texas’ Lana Shadwick reported the Austin graduate bragged on Twitter that the tab for her college education was being picked up by the University of Texas. Mayte Lara tweeted about her self-accessed “nice legs” and her “13 cords/medals,” “4.5GPA” and Valedictorian status at Crockett High School, she also had to add, “oh and I’m undocumented,” Shadwick reported.

Entrepreneur, contributor, writer, and editor of Sostre News. With a powerful new bi-lingual speaking generation by his side, Sostre News is becoming the preferred site for the latest in Politics, Entertainment, Sports, Culture, Tech, Breaking and World News.

News

Three Disney World Employees Among 17 Arrested in Florida Child Sex Sting

Three Disney World employees were among the 17 people arrested in a child sex sting operation in Florida, law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday.

Published

on

Three Disney World Employees Among 17 Arrested in Florida Child Sex Sting

Three Disney World employees were among the 17 people arrested in a child sex sting operation in Florida, law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday.

In the operation, dubbed “Operation Child Protector,” undercover officers posed as 13- and 14-year-old children on social media and online dating apps between July 27 and Aug. 1.

The undercovers made contact with each of the suspects before proposing they meet at a location in Polk County, where they were busted.

In total, the arrests led to 49 felony and two misdemeanor charges. Those arrested were aged 26 to 47. All were from Central Florida except for one 33-year-old man from California.

“What you see on this board … are deviants. Incredible deviants,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference on Tuesday, motioning to photos of the alleged pervs. “They travel from as far away as Clewiston, Florida. One even came from Los Angeles.”

“Much to their chagrin, instead of meeting with young children, they were met by law enforcement officers who were online undercover posing as children.”

Kenneth Javier Aquino, 26, a lifeguard at Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney World, was arrested while still wearing his Disney polo shirt and swimsuit, according to the sheriff’s office.

Aquino engaged in an online conversation on social media with an officer, posing as a 13-year-old girl, authorities said. He then asked the “girl” to send photos, and sent her an explicit video of himself, police said.

Aquino told officers he is a Navy veteran and has a pregnant girlfriend.

Jonathan McGrew, a 34-year-old custodian at Disney World, was nabbed by an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.

disney-world

McGrew allegedly told the “girl” that he wanted her to come over and have sex with him and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Savannah Lawrence, who also works as a custodian at tourist mecca.

McGrew sent her explicit videos of him and Lawrence performing sexual acts on each other, authorities said.

A rep for Disney World didn’t immediately return a message.

Continue Reading

News

China Reports First Human Death from Monkey B Virus

China has reported the first human infection and death in the country caused by a rare infectious disease found in primates known as the Monkey B virus.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a 53-year-old veterinary surgeon who worked in a research institute specializing in nonhuman primate breeding in Beijing dissected two monkeys in March and became ill about a month later.

Published

on

China Reports First Human Death from Monkey B Virus

China has reported the first human infection and death in the country caused by a rare infectious disease found in primates known as the Monkey B virus.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a 53-year-old veterinary surgeon who worked in a research institute specializing in nonhuman primate breeding in Beijing dissected two monkeys in March and became ill about a month later.

He began experiencing nausea, vomiting, fever and neurological issues, and died in May.

Blood and saliva samples were tested and researchers in April found evidence of the Monkey B virus, also known as the herpes B virus.

Researchers said a male doctor and female nurse who were in close contact with the victim tested negative for the virus.

The Monkey B virus is prevalent among macaque monkeys but infection among humans is extremely rare. Since the virus was identified in 1932, just 50 cases have been reported, with the majority of those in North America. Untreated B virus infections in humans are serious, however, with a fatality rate of about 80 percent.

Symptoms include fever, shortness of breath, and progress to more serious complications such as swelling of the brain and spinal cord.

Laboratory workers and veterinarians in close contact with the animals are most at risk as people typically get infected with the virus if they are bitten or scratched by an infected macaque, or have contact with the monkey’s eyes, nose or mouth.

But the virus is unlikely to mutate in a way that poses a problem to the general population. Just one case of human-to-human transmission of the virus has ever been documented.

Continue Reading

News

U.S. Remembers 9/11 Terrorist Attacks as The Pandemic Changes Tribute Traditions

Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.

Published

on

U.S. Remembers 9/11 Terrorist Attacks as The Pandemic Changes Tribute Traditions

Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.

In New York, a dispute over coronavirus-safety precautions is leading to split-screen remembrances Friday, one at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza at the World Trade Center and another on a nearby corner. The Pentagon’s observance will be so restricted that not even victims’ families can attend, though small groups can visit the memorial there later in the day.

Trump and Biden are both headed — at different times — to the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Trump is speaking at the morning ceremony, the White House said. Biden plans to pay respects there in the afternoon after attending the observance at the 9/11 memorial in New York.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence is also due at ground zero — and then at the alternate ceremony a few blocks away.

In short, the anniversary of 9/11 is a complicated occasion in a maelstrom of a year, as the U.S. grapples with a health crisis, searches its soul over racial injustice and prepares to choose a leader to chart a path forward.

Still, 9/11 families say it’s important for the nation to pause and remember the hijacked-plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the trade center, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001, shaping American policy, perceptions of safety and daily life in places from airports to office buildings.

“I know that the heart of America beats on 9/11 and, of course, thinks about that tragic day. I don’t think that people forget,” says Anthoula Katsimatides, who lost her brother John and is now on the board of the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum.

Friday will mark Trump’s second time observing the 9/11 anniversary at the Flight 93 memorial, where he made remarks in 2018. Biden spoke at the memorial’s dedication in 2011, when he was vice president.

The ground zero ceremony in New York has a longstanding custom of not allowing politicians to speak, though they can attend. Biden did so as vice president in 2010, and Trump as a candidate in 2016.

Though the candidates will be focused on the commemorations, the political significance of their focus on Shanksville is hard to ignore: Pennsylvania is a must-win state for both. Trump won it by less than a percentage point in 2016.

Around the country, some communities have canceled 9/11 commemorations because of the pandemic, while others are going ahead, sometimes with modifications.

The New York memorial is changing one of its ceremony’s central traditions: having relatives read the names of the dead, often adding poignant tributes.

Thousands of family members are still invited. But they’ll hear a recording of the names from speakers spread around the vast plaza, a plan that memorial leaders felt would avoid close contact at a stage but still allow families to remember their loved ones at the place where they died.

But some victims’ relatives felt the change robbed the observance of its emotional impact. A different 9/11-related group, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, set up its own, simultaneous ceremony a few blocks away, saying there’s no reason that people can’t recite names while keeping a safe distance.

The two organizations also tussled over the Tribute in Light, a pair of powerful beams that shine into the night sky near the trade center and evoke its fallen twin towers. The 9/11 memorial initially canceled the display, citing virus-safety concerns for the installation crew. After the Tunnel to Towers Foundation vowed to put up the lights instead, the memorial changed course with help from its chairman, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Tunnel to Towers, meanwhile, arranged to display single beams for the first time at the Shanksville memorial and the Pentagon.

Over the years, the anniversary also has become a day for volunteering. Because of the pandemic, the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance organization is encouraging people this year to make donations or take other actions that can be accomplished at home.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending