A school in Mountain View, California will be named after an illegal alien who came to the U.S. in 1993 from the Philippines when he was 12.

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, was one of five candidates for the honor. 

CNN:

"I don't really have words for how meaningful this honor is, I've been speechless for a few days," Vargas, 37, told CNN.  "I hope that this is a school where students and their families feel welcome in America, no matter where they come from."

The goal is for the school near San Jose to open for grades K-5 in 2019, according to Mountain View Whisman School District documents.

The school board approved the naming last week after Vargas was one of five people whose names were suggested for the new school by members of the community.

As a product of the district's schools, Vargas said he was overwhelmed by "this totally unexpected and deeply meaningful honor."

"I think every undocumented immigrant [sic] in this country wherever you are ... from the big regions to the small towns, we're defined by our communities.  I grew up in that community.  This feels so special," he said.

While the award was an honor to him, some have taken to social media to express their anger that "an illegal immigrant's [sic]" name is on a school.  One person posting on the Twitter account of Vargas' organization referred to him as "a cheat and a liar."

In case you were wondering why Vargas hasn't been apprehended and deported, he was actually detained in 2014 and ordered to appear before a judge.  But the notice was apparently never filed, and nothing ever came of his case.

"So basically, like the 11 million immigrants in this country, I am in limbo land," he said.

Vargas also said he's been openly vocal about what it means to be undocumented and that immigration is the "most misunderstood issue in American society."  Part of that misunderstanding, he says, is what led to the misuse of the word "illegal."

"It's inhumane for news organizations to call these kids and their parents illegal," he said.  Branding people "illegal," he says, makes them seem less than human.

First, Vargas is not an "immigrant."  That is a legal definition of someone who comes to the U.S. legally. 

And calling an illegal alien "illegal" does not make him "less human."  It makes him...well, illegal.  That these definitions have been obscured by rank emotionalism is reprehensible and immoral.

We have named schools after other lawbreakers as well.  Civil rights icons like Martin Luther King went to jail to highlight unjust laws.  But King and others were practicing civil disobedience, where they were willing to accept their punishment for breaking the law.

Vargas broke the law and entered the U.S. illegally "for a better life" – or, more specifically, to make more money.  His lawbreaking was not a selfless act to right a wrong; it was a selfish act to improve his economic situation. 

If we're going to name schools after lawbreakers who sought to better their personal financial situation, here are a few other suggestions:

Jesse James Middle School

John Dillinger High School

Al Capone Academy

Lucky Luciano Charter School

It's a travesty, but it's completely understandable in the context that there is a concerted effort to blur distinctions between those who wait years and follow all the rules to enter the U.S. legally, and those who jump the border ahead of them.  It's an issue of "fairness" that somehow never makes it to the agendas of social justice warriors and other leftists.