Supreme Court ready to deny illegal aliens free public education

me | September 15, 2004 | Richard Kelsey

[Iron Eagle]

Supreme Court ready to deny illegal aliens free public education

A Sept. 7 letter writer urged schools to check the immigration status of students to stop illegal aliens from stealing educational services. This will shock most Americans, but the Supreme Court gave "illegal" aliens the constitutional right to an education funded by U.S. citizens. Now it's time to overturn that decision.

The case that grants illegal immigrants the right to taxpayer-funded education is Plyler vs. Doe. Plyler costs taxpayers plenty of dough. Indeed, with many New Jersey towns paying $10,000 per pupil for an education each year, the cost of Plyler is in the millions annually for some towns. Moreover, the effect of the decision is to entice more illegal aliens to come to our country.

[Iron Eagle]

The silence in this presidential campaign on the silent invasion of the U.S. is frightening. Most Americans probably have no idea that the Supreme Court forces states to provide k-12 public education for illegal aliens.

[Iron Eagle]

the rest of the piece is here:

http://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,1051289,00.html

[ClintonBeGone]

This will fail. Only congress has the power to make distinctions based on one's country of origin.

[Brilliant]

The security of our borders will only become an issue if Americans start sneaking into Mexico.

[Iron Eagle]

Ahh -- that's not correct. Congress has granted exclusive authority to the ICE to make determinations about immigration status.

That has nothing to do with individual states and communities being forced to pay for public education for individuals not here legally.

[LinnieBeth]

Only congress has the power to make distinctions based on one's country of origin.

Curious. How was the court able to rule that they could get an education in the first place?
Hope you are right though - I suspect the court now thinks they can make law.

[pete anderson]

By Illegal Aliens do they mean school children who were born of illegal alien parents in the U.S. and are therefore citizens or do they mean children who were born outside the U.S. and are here illegally?

In any case we have two choices:

We can Refuse to educate Illegal Aliens and force them into welfare or crime as they grow up and produce more illiterate children.

We can invest a little money now to educate them and hopefully they will turn into productive tax paying American citizens in the future.

One thing is clear. not the Democrats or the Republicans have the intestinal fortitude to deport the illegal aliens but instead both parties propose Amnesty Programs to accept the illegals as American Citizens.

[Iron Eagle]

The Court made the law in 1982 in the case cited therein. That is the law. Congress cannot change that law -- absent a Constitutional Amendment.

The Point of the article is, I believe, that the current Supreme Court, given the opportunity, would overrule its prior wrongful holding.

Absent that, you are stuck with providing k-12 education for illegal aliens.

[bayourod]

I agree that the decision needs to be reversed. It should be left up to the states to decide if they want to limit education to students who can show legal status.

However I can see good policy reasons for providing free or reduced costs education for children who are going to be growing up in the community and being part of the local economy or part of the local criminal element.

That is, there are good policy reasons if you believe in taxpayer funded education, which I don't.

[Iron Eagle]

By Illegal Aliens do they mean school children who were born of illegal alien parents in the U.S. and are therefore citizens or do they mean children who were born outside the U.S. and are here illegally?

Excellent question. That case was over illegal aliens. Children who could not provide proof of lawful U.S. residency. (The children of illegal aliens born in the United States are considered U.S. Citizens.)

[BykrBayb]

We can Refuse to educate Illegal Aliens and force them into welfare or crime as they grow up and produce more illiterate children.

Nobody's forcing them to take welfare checks. Those of us who don't want to pay for their education, sure as hell don't want to give them welfare checks. Nobody is forcing them to commit crimes either. They are already committing a crime by being here illegally. There is a legal way to immigrate to the U.S. Illegals need to be deported. Period.

[Prime Choice]

This will fail. Only congress has the power to make distinctions based on one's country of origin.

And only Congress had the authority to declare abortion legal. That sure as hell didn't stop the Supreme Court, now did it?

[uncitizen]

I don't expect they'd ever stop educating illegals here in CA, but if they could cut some of the the free school lunchs, special language programs, and other school programs specially designed for illegals it would begin to put a dent in CA's budget problems.

Four years ago around election time, my neighbor, (who is illegal but her children aren't) was invited to the school for a free steak dinner and discussion in which the school told the Spanish speaking parents what to do if they feel discriminated against, how to contact LaRasa, and of course how they are supposed to think about the various propositions and candidates on the ballot.

Two years ago they did the same thing, but my neighbor was disappointed that the dinner was pasta instead of steak.

[DC Bound]

"your wetback mother calving 1 foot this side of the border should not mean you are automatically a citizen."

This is offensive and idiotic. Period.

[WhiteGuy]

"The silence in this presidential campaign on the silent invasion of the U.S. is frightening."


I guess both major party candidates believe that the activities of the other, 35 years ago is the most important issue facing voters today.

Pathetic.

[Guillermo]

There is silence because neither party wants to stop illegal immigration.

Dems and GOP'ers don't want to stop it, Business, both big and small don't want to stop it. Unions don't want to stop it, and Churches don't want to stop it.

There is no organized constituency opposed to Illegal Immigration, while there are several who are for it.

[longtermmemmory]

The distinction is NOT based on country of oragin. The distinction is based on being in the USA LEGALLY or ILLEAGALLY!

This denying illegals public tax dollars is origin neutral. It is not lawbreaker neutral.

[Iron Eagle]

I agree that the comments are clearly over the line, and unfortunate.

Interestingly, the poster stumbled onto one of the truly fascinating part of this immigration maze. That is, the Constitutional interpretation that being born here illegally automatically grants citizenship. There is no question that that is the law. But should it be?

The section of the Constitution used as the foundation of that interpretation has to do with the rights of "Citizens."

In addition, and far more importantly from a legal standpoint, there is no precedent in the common law prior to the Constitution or since that would reward illegal activity. Indeed, in criminal law, the state loses its evidence if it illegally searches and seizes one's property. (no fruit of the poisonous tree). On the civil side, we disgorge unjustly enriched defendants, and we hold that contracts to perform illegal activities are void abinitio (from inception). Accordingly, how is it that one can profit from the illegal act of entering the Country illegally? It is certainly something to consider.

[cinives]

We can invest a little money now to educate them and hopefully they will turn into productive tax paying American citizens in the future.

This reasoning is the sole basis for most states' constitutional provision to provide education, most commonly known as "compulsory attendance". Unfortunately, since the public schools have a 44% average illiteracy rate after 13 years of compulsory attendance, not to mention a socialist curriculum, you can bet we can spend $10,000+ per year and immigrants STILL won't be able to read or write,do basic arithmetic or become anything other than good dimocraps, just like many non-illegal kids.

If we deny them a public education we're actually doing them a favor.