Shohei Ohtani is an alien. He’s a homerun-hitting pitcher for the Dodgers, who does media interviews with an interpreter and has been earning hundreds of millions a year here under a temporary work visa.
This is despite the fact that in this America First era, there is never a shortage of applicants for jobs in Major League Baseball. The odds of an aspiring high school baseball player getting hired by MLB are .5%.
Ohtani has even shamelessly sent money to Japan in a display of continued affection for his home country. OK, it was earthquake relief, but c’mon.
Still, it’s safe to say he doesn’t have to worry about getting kidnapped by masked ICE agents when he shows up for immigration appointments — at least as long as he can maintain his MVP cred.
Marina Ortiz is not so lucky.
Ortiz is a fifth-grade teacher at the Global Village Academy charter school in Parker. Last month, she and her family were arrested when they dared to appear for a routine appointment at the ICE office in Centennial. They were accused of being “illegal aliens” and have been incarcerated at a detention facility in Texas.
From all accounts, Ortiz has the necessary documents to work in the U.S. through the spring of 2029 and for her family to accompany her.
“This employee has a valid employment authorization document,” Michael Henderson, executive director of the Global Village Academy Collaborative, told Chalkbeat. Before she was hired, he said the collaborative also conducted a Colorado Bureau of Investigation background check on Ortiz, who is from Peru. She passed.
Like Ohtani, Ortiz has an exceptional skill that few native-born Americans hold. She is an experienced bilingual teacher. And she works in a state where teacher shortages are severe.
Many districts across Colorado have recruited international teachers to take hard-to-fill positions. Hundreds of teachers come to Colorado every year on work visas.
It’s easy to see why.
Teachers in Colorado make 39% less than other college-educated professionals, a statistic called the “wage penalty” for working here. Apparently, the only way to make educators’ salaries in Colorado look good is to compare them to wages in places like Mexico, the Philippines and Peru.
Remote, cash-strapped rural Colorado districts face an especially difficult challenge recruiting teachers. It’s not just the low wages, but the isolation and the relative lack of opportunities for spouses and other family members.
For years, rural schools have often had to suspend requirements for professional training or licensing to fill teaching positions when no qualified candidates have been available.
Tiny Ovid struggled to find a science teacher, finally hiring a talented professional from the Philippines, according to a report from Colorado Public Radio.
Suburban districts look to other countries for teachers as well. The Harrison School District in the Colorado Springs area has hired from Spain, Mexico, India and the Philippines.
But it’s not just in the politically conservative parts of the state like Parker, Ovid and Colorado Springs where international teachers have been in high demand.
Telluride employs several international teachers, as do school districts in Summit and Eagle counties and other resort communities where high housing costs make teacher recruitment difficult. In the high-cost Denver area, Denver Public Schools had 234 international teachers last year.
The problem is so severe and the solution so obvious, a private company, Colorado Learning, was founded to recruit and place international teachers across the state.
But the announcement in September that the fee for H-1B visas will increase dramatically will make it all but impossible for school districts to continue to recruit internationally. The fee for visas has spiked from around $6,000 to a whopping $100,000.
That may be pocket-change for the Dodgers or Nvidia, but for Ovid that’s the equivalent of a typical teacher’s salary for two years.
While wiping out a valuable source for talented teachers is a huge loss for schools in Colorado and across the country, the bigotry and cruelty on display in the self-defeating immigration crackdown is infinitely more damaging.
“When someone who contributes to our shared mission of educating children is suddenly taken away, it sends a chilling message to the many families in our district who live each day with fear, uncertainty and vulnerability,” said Susan Meek, a member of the board of Douglas County Schools.
☀ MORE IN OPINION
Many in Douglas County clearly support Ortiz and have created a GoFundMe account to help the Ortiz family with expenses. But money can’t undo the damage.
When a teacher and her husband and children who are here legally are imprisoned for appearing for an immigration appointment, word gets out. Talented professionals often have lots of options around the world. They don’t have to risk incarceration in the U.S.
And you never know. Even a guy like Shohei Ohtani just might think twice about coming to this country in the future.
Playing for the Blue Jays could start looking a whole lot more appealing.
Diane Carman is a Denver communications consultant.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
Follow Colorado Sun Opinion on Facebook.