Remember this guy?
Posted on 02/24/2005 4:26:35 PM PST by kcvl
The Arkansas House of Representatives voted 63-31 to pass a bill that would allow illegal aliens who graduate from Arkansas high schools to qualify for in-state tuition rates and taxpayer-funded state scholarships at state universities. "We have allowed these kids to dream," said Rep. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, in support of her House Bill 1525. "We have put them in our schools, we have urged them to dream, and then we cut them off the moment they get out of high school."
While seven lawmakers spoke in support of the bill during debate on the House floor, the measure drew silence from opponents. None of the 31 lawmakers who voted against the bill chose to speak against it. "I think most minds were made up," said Rep. Mike Kenney, R-Siloam Springs, who voted against it. "Speaking for myself, I didn’t see any point in belaboring the issue. It wasn’t going to change any minds."
Gov. Mike Huckabee, who included the bill in his legislative package, drew a contrast between Wednesday’s vote in support of illegal immigrants and the state’s handling of the 1957 desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High School. "They took a stand that Arkansas can be proud of," Huckabee said in describing the House. "I think if we had taken a similar one in 1957, it would have made us proud for a long, long time."
Elliott also compared the situation of illegal aliens in Arkansas today to that of black students in the 1950s. In speaking before the House, Elliott, who is black, recalled her childhood in Arkansas, saying she was born in 1951 and grew up with "the big boot of the government on my back and I was a mere child." "For these kids today," Elliott said of illegal aliens, "it is not a memory, it’s a way of life."
Her bill would give in-state tuition to illegal-alien students who have spent at least three years in school in Arkansas, have graduated from a school in the state and been accepted by a state college or university. It would also declare them eligible for state-funded scholarships. In-state tuition rates are cheaper by about $5,000 a year than rates for out-of-state students.
Federal law requires that states educate children of illegal immigrants in public schools, but that requirement does not extend to colleges, Elliott said. Instead, illegal aliens who graduate from high school lack documented legal status and are in a "legal purgatory," she said.
As part of her bill, Elliott required that illegal aliens who receive in-state tuition file an affidavit with the college or university they attend, stating that they intend to legalize their immigration status.
Between 1990 and 2000, the estimated number of illegal immigrants rose from 5,000 to 27,000 in Arkansas, according to a January 2003 report from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, predecessor to the Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Elliott said about 600 children of immigrants will graduate from state high schools this year, of which about half are illegal. Elliott said her bill would cost the state $235,000 in its first year.
Speaking in support of the bill, Rep. Sam Ledbetter, DLittle Rock, said those who don’t receive an education are more likely to commit crimes and be sent to prison, where the state must pay for their custody. "If an undocumented immigrant commits a crime, we’re going to send him to the pen," Ledbetter said. "The financial impact of [granting in-state status and access to state-funded scholarships to illegal aliens] is the cost of 12 prisoners."
During debate, Rep. Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, who voted against the bill, asked Elliott if the bill wouldn’t encourage illegal aliens to move to Arkansas. "Do we not encourage parents to bring their children here illegally?" Pritchard asked.
Elliott said she doubted immigrants would view Arkansas as "the promised land" if her bill becomes law. Even if parents moved to Arkansas illegally to take advantage of her bill, the children who would benefit from it aren’t breaking the law, Elliott said. "We’re not dealing with the parents, we’re dealing with the kids," Elliott said.
Rep. Stephen Bright, R-Maumelle, questioned whether the bill was needed, and if colleges and universities shouldn’t be allowed to decide if illegal aliens should receive in-state tuition. "Could we maybe have a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy?" Bright asked.
Elliott said the state’s colleges and universities were comfortable with the bill’s requirements.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Even in Arkansas people aren't that stupid!
We often forget that Politics is Politics and nothing is straight foward.
Crap. I was thinking of moving to Arkansas. This makes me want to re-think.
(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")
"Part of the Problem" ping
Good gawd, those folks have indeed lost their freakin' minds!
Does Hillary still pay any taxes in Arkansas?
Remember this guy?
Hey, he doesn't live there anymore.
If I hadn't made a trip to Little Rock today I would never have known about it!
???Gov. Huckabee and our other elected officials have lost their freaking minds!???
What is this world coming to??? Maybe there is something I'm not getting, I'm starting to think it's that these politicians are thinking toward the future and thinking of their future constituents. Holy cow, even in Arkansas!!
Are you just figuring this out?
But really, the people who truly lost their minds are the ones who vote these con artists in and then reelect them.
I'm sure that will be enforced as heartily as, "don't overstay your student visa...please".
I thought Gov. Huckabee had better sense than to compare ILLEGALS to LEGAL blacks!
Folks,
This is about money. It increases enrollment at the colleges and gets the tuition paid for by federal aid. From the state's perspective it's a way to fund the state universities.
Sounds exactly like the program California put into place a year or so ago. Not very popular but it went through nonetheless.
Tyson is a big employer in Arkansas. They use a lot of low-wage labor. Draw your own conclusions
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