I wasn’t sure I heard President Obama right during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, so I double-checked the text of his speech. “One last point about education,” Obama said about a topic on which he spoke at some length. (The text of his speech, when I printed it out, came to 11 pages. Obama may not be one of our greatest presidents, but he sure has heck is one of the most long-winded.)

“Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents. They grew up as Americans and pledge allegiance to our flag, and yet live every day with the threat of deportation. Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense.”