Posted on 05/26/2007 12:16:58 PM PDT by Politicalmom
Approximately 50 Collin County students, some as young as 12 years old, took to the downtown streets Wednesday to protest an immigration bill authored by State Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney.
House Bill 39, authored by Paxton and State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, would require students entering college to provide information that would establish their residential status and allow colleges to “reclassify” current students as nonresidents. The bill is currently pending in the House Committee on State Affairs, of which Paxton is vice chairman, according to state legislative records.
The middle school, high school and college students marched down Chestnut and West Virginia Street in front of Paxton’s offices, and held a rally on Wood Street across from Dr. Glenn Mitchell Memorial Park in a parking lot next to the red brick building that houses Paxton’s office.
They sported a long banner that read “The March for Educated America.” They chanted phrases such as “We are America” and “We are the future.” Some carried signs that read “Paxton, when I turn 18 … I’m staying here” and “Support the Dream Act” referring to U.S. Senate Bill 774, a bill that would grant temporary citizenship to high school graduates entering college who came to the U.S. before they were 16 years old and lived in the U.S. for at least five consecutive years, according to federal legislative records.
Some people on the square seemed surprised by the afternoon march.
Brian Masenthin, a resident of Atlanta, Ga., was across the street when the students marched down the sidewalk.
“They say they’re America, but how many of them are Americans?” he said.
Attorney Christie Albano, who has an office on the downtown square, was taking out the trash when the march traveled across the street from her office.
“I think it’s good actually,” she said referring to their cause. “Education is good for our country.”
Manuel Rendon, of Frisco, a Collin County Community College student, said the students are responsible for organizing Wednesday afternoon’s march.
“I think what’s important is you see nothing but young people here, students who, by the way, did not have to walk out of class to express themselves,” Rendon said.
Rendon, addressing the crowd, called the crowd of youths Paxton’s “young constituents.”
“Nobody here is going anywhere because this is our home,” Rendon said before the crowd into a megaphone. “Mr. Paxton needs to know that today his constituents, his young constituents [who] are in high school, middle school and college stood up and said no to House Bill 39 … We will succeed and we will go to college.”
Paxton issued a statement from his office in Austin regarding the march.
“Political protest is a right Americans cherish, and I am sorry I am not available to greet these protesters personally,” Paxton’s statement read. “I maintain the position that in-state tuition for Texas institutions of higher learning should be reserved for Texas residents who are U.S. citizens. Many legal Texas residents are denied entrance to our universities while a number of illegal residents have their tuition subsidized.”
Jorge Flores, of Frisco, another Collin College student, said he and his fellow protesters believe everyone has the right to achieve an education.
“We’re against the bill because we can’t let someone stop us from getting an education here in the U.S. because most of these people come over here and that’s their dream,” he said.
Funny, but students who get legal Student Visas arent getting the same treatment
There are lawsuits active that want to overturn these Dream Act laws. 14th Amendment issues when you give one group of people benefits based on national origin, and not extended to another
Jorge Flores’ quote makes no sense whatsoever—in any language.
He is exactly the reason illegals should get nothing. They shouldn’t be here and they expect someone else to pay for their “rights”.
Try doing that in Mexico, Jorge.
>>“I think what’s important is you see nothing but young people here, students who, by the way, did not have to walk out of class to express themselves,” Rendon said.<<
Nothing but young, naive fools who don’t pay taxes, don’t have to worry about the quality of their children’s education, have no responsibilites to speak of, and who have most definitely not learned the virtues of personal responsibility.
Sorry, not on my dime!
A protest by 50 people makes the news???
And this is while they are in 'the shadows' hiding!! I'm afraid to think what they'll demand when they're 'legal'.
It's quite possible to get a college education in Mexico. Our first exchange student, from the less affluent south of the country, has both a bachelors in accounting and what is equivalent to either a Master's degree or a CPA. Her brother also has a bachelors from one of the two post secondary schools in their smallish city. A co-worker, now a citizen of the US working for the US Army as an R&D engineer, has his undergrad degree from a northern Mexico University.
What these people want is a handout.
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