Posted on 12/10/2003 2:11:37 PM PST by Graybeard58
G iving all immigrants subsidized tuition rates at state universities, as is proposed by a Florida lawmaker, may seem fair when viewed one student at a time. But the issue is not whether certain individuals are worthy of assistance. Uncounted thousands of students are in this country illegally and more are arriving all the time. Awarding them all blanket in-state rates would be bad policy in conflict with federal immigration law.
Plenty of examples can be found of bright foreign students who are attending Florida high schools but, because they lack documentation, would have to pay high out-of-state tuition rates if they continue their education at a state-supported university.
Some sneaked in illegally with their parents. Others have simply overstayed tourist visas. So many thousands are here that they can't all be discovered and deported, so there is logic in the long-standing policy that they be allowed a basic kindergarten-through- 12th-grade education in public schools.
A higher education is different. Florida's major universities are so crowded they must turn down many citizens and other legal residents. Tuition and other costs are rapidly rising.
Yet even if Florida campuses had excess space and money, putting out a welcome mat for illegal aliens would be much like granting them the amnesty the federal government refuses to give.
Upon graduation, how could they legally work? Their continuing presence here is a clear violation of the law. Were immigration itself under control, it would be less risky to award generous benefits to deserving individual immigrants.
Conservatives who advocate open borders don't reconcile a flood of newcomers with the impossibility of providing them all with adequate health, education and welfare services. Liberals who want to provide full benefits to illegal visitors seem to assume that expanded government benefits are as simple as registering enough liberal voters.
The nation needs to begin facing its immigration problems, not pretending everyone is equally entitled to all privileges of U.S. citizenship.
Victor Davis Hanson, a classics professor at California State University, warns that parts of California are experiencing a ``new apartheid,'' a reference to deplorable dual-citizenship laws once enforced in South Africa. In communities where Mexican immigrants now are an overwhelming majority, the towns suffer from ``dismal schools, high crime, little revenue and other social problems akin to those in Mexico.''
Settlements dominated by illegal aliens exist in a parallel social order, or often disorder, its inhabitants unable to vote and afraid to rely on ordinary local police and courts.
This is no model worth duplicating. Florida and other states would be well- advised to keep their laws consistent with federal policy on immigration. The attraction of coming here is strong enough without adding new incentives.
This is akin to saying "There are so many unsolved burglaries, so we better stop catching and incarcerating burglars".
Which is nonsense. Catch as many as you can, and deport them all.
Whoever is pushing the illegal agenda (I know, big business and elected officials who do their bidding)care not one whit for the American taxpayers. To state that illegals contribute to Social Security taxes is patently false. Most illegals are paid in cash to avoid a paper trail. The only tax that illegals pay is sales tax to local communities and states. School taxes are paid for by legal homeowners and higher education contributions come out of the general income taxes (again, not paid by illegals.)
I have nothing against poor people who come to America seeking a better life for themselves and their families but I do have a lot against government officials who want everyone to think that they are compasionate by offering to grant all sorts of taxpayer funded goodies to illegals. What these government officials (also freeloaders)want to do is be generous with other people's money!
The usual argument against this one by the Treason Lobby is that illegals pay property taxes via rent. But the practical reality is that illegals tend to crowd into one dwelling, thus diluting the per capita property tax contribution.
And here in California, there is one even more outrageous caveat: low income housing built under California Redevelopment Agency (CRA) funds are exempted from property tax. Guess who are a significant fraction of those housed in such subsidized housing - the illegals!
So...they live in taxpayer constructed housing, which contributes nothing to property tax, and usually have more than the legal limit of people in the dwelling. All in all, a giant parasite operation. Funded by us.
Do they also have free hospitals? I'd like to see the government implement free medical transports for illegal immigrants.
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