"I think it's really sad. ... I never thought that I was going to be caught up in this messed-up system, so I'm just hoping for the best and waiting for something positive such as the Dream Act to be passed sometime in the future."

- KSU student Jessica Colotl at her press conference on Friday

"MESSED-UP SYSTEM"? MS. COLOTL IS RIGHT. This is a messed-up system we have here in these United States. Just consider:

This is a system in which we have fairly rigorous laws aimed at preventing illegals from entering the country. But those laws are ignored as often as they are enforced. They are scrupulously upheld against those trying to emigrate here from Europe, Canada and most of Asia and Africa, but are only thinly upheld against those who come from south of the border. In fact, if you can make it across the border without getting caught, you can pretty much consider yourself "home free."

Take the case of Ms. Colotl, for example. Her parents brought her here as a young girl from Mexico, and lived more or less openly afterward. She received a free education - a good one; so good, in fact, that she graduated with honors and, to her credit, was admitted to Kennesaw State University. Many would say that a system that turns a blind eye to those who enter illegally, yet educates them and admits them, no questions asked, to one of the state's best colleges, and at a reduced, in-state tuition fee, is "messed up."

It is messed up, indeed, and that is not the fault of Ms. Colotl or even of those who are using her as a pawn to make the case for softening our immigration laws even further, to the consistency of room-temperature Jell-O. No, the fault for our "messed up system" rests firmly on our own shoulders. Too many Americans for too long were too busy to pay attention to what has been happening along our Southern border, and the ramifications of that flood.

A disproportionate share of the blame also must accrue to our politicians in Washington who for years looked the other way as illegals poured in, and who now are trying to cozy up to the illegals and their supporters in hopes of winning the support of that ever-growing bloc of voters.

And the other big share of the blame is on the shoulders of businessmen, especially factory owners, farmers and builders, who have come to rely on the cheap labor of the illegals, and who as a result, have virtually run native-born Americans out of certain businesses and trades. And it is the taxpayer who is left to clean up most of the mess, paying school, health and other costs for the illegals and their families.

SO NOW WE HAVE MS. COLOTL, a Mexican citizen raised in metro Atlanta whose status as an illegal alien came to light after she was stopped for a traffic violation on the KSU campus in March and who is fast becoming a cause celebre in liberal circles as a "victim" of unscrupulous racists and bigots in the immigration wars, who hate anyone and everyone with brown skin. But as usual, the liberals have it wrong. Those who have been so loudly critical of Ms. Colotl, and of KSU's handling of the affair, and of the Board of Regents' "Who cares?" approach to the citizenship status of its students, could care less about Ms. Colotl's color. It's her right, or lack thereof, to be in the country that matters. Ms. Colotl has shown an admirable desire to improve herself and has excelled in the classroom. Her appetite for education is one we wish more Georgia citizens would aspire to.

But her sense of entitlement - her feeling that she is owed the opportunity to go to college here and deserves to be granted U.S. citizenship - undercuts the feelings of sympathy that her strivings might otherwise engender. Episodes like this make it less likely, not more, that political compromise on a "path to citizenship" for illegals will ever be paved.

Unfortunately, Ms. Colotl's supporters, knowing the law is not on their side, have few weapons other than their penchant for making unwarranted personal attacks. Exhibit A is their pathetic attempt to portray Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren as unscrupulous, calling him "Wild West Warren." They claim Colotl is a victim of racial profiling, which Warren has forcefully rebutted. It was not his fault that Ms. Colotl was driving in such a way as to attract the attention of KSU campus police. And it was not his fault that she gave false information to police. If anything, Warren deserves the thanks and support of Cobb residents in his stalwart efforts to uphold our laws.

SO YES, MS. COLOTL is correct. We have a messed-up system, just not in the way she envisions it. The "Colotl debacle" offers abundant evidence of that - and we don't advise anyone to hold their breath while waiting for Washington to fix it.