In what has become one of the most controversial football recruiting stories to date, former Georgia football commitment Chester Brown was denied enrollment into the University in the wake of a policy that was created in Oct. 2010 following the Jessica Colotl issue at Kennesaw State University.

Colotl, a senior at the time, was arrested for driving without a license.

After officials discovered she was an undocumented immigrant originally from Mexico, she faced deportation back to her native country [“Jessica Colotl, Kennesaw State Student, Becomes A Reluctant Symbol Of The Immigration Debate,” The Huffington Post, May 11, 2011].

JUSTIN JOHNSON

Colotl was not deported, however, and she graduated from KSU in the spring of 2011.

The policy that led to Brown’s denial — written by the Georgia Board of Regents — states that “an undocumented student can’t take the seat of an otherwise academically qualified Georgia resident who has been turned away because of capacity constraints.”

In a country that is founded upon freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, this policy is an absolute embarrassment to me.

Brown, born to Samoan parents, moved from Samoa to Long Beach, Calif., in the mid-1990s because of financial difficulties.

The family proceeded to move to Hinesville, Ga., in 2004, citing gang violence as the primary reason for their move [“Commit follows improbable road to Georgia,” Dawgpost.com, Aug. 26, 2011].

But these immigrants are here to just take “true” Americans’ jobs and tax money, right?

Let’s forget about the fact that Brown had parents who cared enough to get him away from the constant violence surrounding them.

Brown’s father told Dawgpost.com that “a lot of kids that were Samoans and his age were shot and killed” [“Bulldogs lose 2012 commitment,” Jan. 23].

Let’s forget that Brown indeed earned his football scholarship to Georgia.

He had to excel not only on the football field, but in the classroom as well. He is rumored to have had a 3.4 GPA heading into this semester, and already had the necessary SAT scores to be enrolled this fall.

And let’s forget that Brown has resided in the U.S. since he was 2 years old and has lived in the U.S. for a total of 16 years — basically his entire life.

It’s a tragedy that a kid has to suffer for something his parents did for the betterment of his future nearly two decades ago.

In an interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Brown said him not being allowed into to attend the University has “hurt me personally. Georgia was a place I told everyone was my home” [“OL Chester Brown de-commits from UGA for unknown reasons,” Jan. 23].

According to the Georgia Board of Regents it’s not, and that’s a travesty in itself.

— Justin Johnson is a senior from Fayetteville majoring in magazines