I am a grandmother to nine grandchildren. Some of them are directly related to me, some married into the family. They are all great kids and their parents are working hard to educate them and help them become worthwhile members of society. None of their parents are wealthy, but all of them are hard-working and care about their children’s education. Some have been saving since their children were born, and some have not been so frugal. Hopefully, all of these grandchildren will find a way to get the education they need to get the jobs they want. Meanwhile, not everyone struggles to put an education and a life together. I’m fine with that, but sometimes benefits are taken from those who deserve them and given to people who are simply not legally entitled to them.

Investor’s Business Daily posted an article yesterday about a recent graduate of the University of California San Diego. Indira Esparza, an illegal alien, who waved the Mexican flag at her graduation. So why do I have a problem with this?

The article explains some of Ms. Esparza’s background:

First, she won a coveted place at UCSD’s cushy La Jolla-based Preuss charter school, displacing a legal resident in an elite, taxpayer-funded school. After that, she was showered with resources for illegals.

“She received a scholarship from the Patricia and Christopher Weil Family Foundation to help support her undergraduate studies at U.C. San Diego,” the UCSD public relations website reads. Still better, she got $10,000 cash from the Chancellor’s Associate Scholars program launched in 2013.

“The program essentially provides a full-ride and loan-free UC San Diego financial aid package to eligible students from several underserved high schools,” UCSD said.

Esparza called it “ridiculously awesome” in a 2013 interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I don’t have to worry so much about my finances. I always have money for books. I have money to buy my parking pass. I have gas money.”

Unusual? Not really. Just this month, Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg donated $5 million for college tuition for 400 illegals through the TheDream.US foundation.

She may be totally deserving of every honor in the book, but because of the benefits she received as an illegal alien, a child who is in this country legally was denied those benefits. I wouldn’t have cared if those benefits went to a non-American child as long as the child receiving the benefits was in America legally. Our first priority in giving aid to students in America should be to students who are here legally. Ms. Esparza came here (or may have been brought here as a chld) illegally and has now chosen to throw the Mexican flag in the faces of the people who provided for her education. How rude. Let’s help American children get an education before we spend millions of dollars on benefits for people who are not legally entitled to them.