Over 120,000 Americans have signed a petition asking President Obama to deport Justin Bieber.

The White House will respond to the petition. It’s their policy to respond to any petition that gathers 100,000 or more signatures. They used to respond to any petition with over 25,000 signatures, but when they received one signed by over 50,000 Americans asking that N.A.S.A. build a Death Star, they raised it to 100,000 signatures.

“We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive and drug abusing Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked,” the petition says. “He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is a terrible influence on our nations youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society.”

My first thought upon reading the petition was to wonder where the apostrophe in the word “nation’s” had run off to. Maybe they changed the rules of punctuation one day while I was out to lunch. My wife says I’m usually out to lunch, but I don’t think she’s referring to the noon meal.

She said it again last week when I asked, “So who is Justin Bieber?”

I had thought I was fairly well up on things because I know the capital of Uzbekistan, the name of the junior senator from Montana and the difference between pantheism and panentheism. But when the name Justin Bieber rang no bell with me, Pam asked what planet I lived on. “You are totally out to lunch!” she added lovingly.

It turns out Justin Bieber is a 19-year-old Canadian rock star. No wonder I didn’t know him. Pop culture isn’t my long suit. I didn’t know who Lindsay Lohan was, either, until I went online to find out about Justin Bieber and saw her name mentioned alongside his. I gather they’re both immature little twirps.

Justin has been arrested three times in recent weeks: (1) for assaulting a limousine driver; (2) for drag racing on a residential street while drunk; and (3) for causing $20,000 worth of damage to a neighbor’s house by throwing eggs at it (I wonder about a house that can sustain $20,000 in damages from eggs, but that’s another matter).

But back to Justin’s possible deportation. You can throw a kid in jail overnight if he breaks the law while being an immature little twirp, but you can’t deport him. If you could, I’d have been deported 50 years ago, several times over. But I outgrew my twirphood. Most people do.

Justin has two problems. The first is that he’s worth about $130 million. The second is that at age 19, he’s legally an adult. A 19-year-old with limitless cash is indeed a danger, both to himself and to society. He doesn’t have to take advice from his parents or anyone else. No doubt Justin thinks he’s invincible and that he knows everything. That goes with being 19. Add $130 million to that and, well, God help him.

But not every child star becomes an immature little twirp. Think of Shirley Temple, Natalie Portman and Jodie Foster, child stars who grew into mature, responsible adults. Or Ronnie Howard, who played Opie on “The Andy Griffith Show” and is now an award-winning movie producer and director. Ronnie’s dad Rance Howard once said that he kept Ronnie on track by putting his money into a trust fund that he couldn’t touch until he’d grown up. The family lived on Rance’s income, not on Ronnie’s. Smart dad.

If I were responding to the Justin Bieber petitioners, here’s what I’d say:

“I know where you’re coming from, dudes. [I’d use the term dudes to show that I’m not out to lunch where pop culture is concerned.] Justin Bieber is a danger, not to mention an embarrassment to the famously polite, mild-mannered Canadians. I’m not sure they’d take him back. But his brain is still developing. Most kids his age haven’t yet learned appropriate behaviors, what’s safe and what’s not, and the difference between right and wrong. Some never learn it, but most do. Justin is entitled to a chance to grow up. Give him that chance. You were 19 once.”

Richard H. Schmidt is a retired Episcopal priest, editor and author who lives in Fairhope. He can be reached at courier@gulfcoastnewspapers.com.