Uncle Sam Gives Four UNLV Scholars the Boot

Ain’t this a fine kettle of clarity for once–four international students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, had their student visas yanked clean out from under them by federal immigration authorities, as it sounds like Uncle Sam finally dusted off the rulebook and used it.

The word came down from on high — or at least from Chris Heavey, a university bigwig with more titles than sense — in a solemn little email full of handwringing and silk-gloved fretting. According to Mr. Heavey, the university “recognized this news may be difficult for some,” which is a mighty polite way of saying some folks might clutch their pearls and take to fainting couches over the wild notion that our immigration laws mean something.

Let’s keep our boots on the ground here–the United States is not some open boarding house where folks can stroll in, tip their hat, and stay as long as they please. No, we have rules — real ones, with teeth.

If someone’s paperwork ain’t in order, or if they’re abusing the privilege of a student visa, well then it’s high time they got shown the door with a tip of the hat and a polite “don’t let it hit you on the way out.”

Of course, the university brass wrung their hands and offered “support services,” legal counseling, and an entire quilt of comfort as though these young scholars had suffered some biblical injustice. But nobody has said what these students did wrong because that would make it harder to keep the narrative neat and tear-streaked. Maybe it’s private, pending, legal silence for when folks not wanting to admit the government might just be right this time.

The whole business comes in the shadow of President Trump’s January executive order to combat the rising tide of anti-Semitism on college campuses and city streets. That’s right — while some folks were busy organizing “die-ins” in the quad and canceling free speech faster than a preacher in a whiskey tent, the administration decided to do something useful.

And now, all across the country, you’re seeing some accountability.

There’s also some hollering about investigations into so-called “racial preferences” in academia — you know, the kind where your skin tone’s worth more than your GPA. One of those grand-sounding outfits with soft words and hard edges, The Ph.D Project, is under the microscope for limiting eligibility based on race.

UNLV had three professors involved in it, one of whom–God rest her— was killed in the December shooting on campus. But here’s the truth–the law don’t play favorites, and neither should our universities. If the rules get broken for one group, they’ll snap against another, and soon, fairness is just another word tossed in the academic junk drawer.

So yes–four students got sent packing. That ain’t cruelty–that’s maintenance. A nation is like a ship–if you don’t keep the hull tight and the crew honest, you’ll find yourself sinking under the weight of your carelessness.

President Trump, for all his bluster and barnstorming, did what many before him only talked about–he enforced the law. And now the same folks who snickered when he promised to drain the sewer are howling because he pulled four fish out of the pond.

Well, boo-hoo.

Let it be said plainly–America is not opposed to immigration. We are a nation of immigrants — but also of legal immigrants. If we don’t respect our rules, we’ve no right to ask anyone else to.

So the next time someone cries foul over a visa revoked or a door closed, ask them this–was the person invited in the first place? Or were they hoping nobody’d notice?

In this dusty, distracted, and divided republic of ours, it’s nice to see that sometimes, just sometimes, the law still holds the line.