Posted on 04/13/2005 5:46:52 AM PDT by Constitution Day
Hunt touts bill to give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants
By WILLIAM L. HOLMES, Associated Press Writer
April 12, 2005 6:56 pm
RALEIGH, N.C. -- With North Carolina's Hispanic population booming -- and Hispanic children dropping out of school at alarming rates -- lawmakers introduced a bill Tuesday that would extend resident tuition rates at public universities to the children of illegal immigrants.
Former Gov. Jim Hunt returned to the General Assembly to show his support for the legislation, which is sponsored in the House by two Republicans and two Democrats. The measure would give in-state tuition to students who attended schools in North Carolina for at least four consecutive years before graduation. Young people in the country would have to apply for legal immigration status to receive the resident rate.
"It is morally right and it is economically necessary for our state," Hunt said. "We need these students. They have worked hard. They have excelled in high school. We need them to get all the education they can get."
The bill appears to enjoy wide support; by Tuesday, 31 legislators had signed on as co-sponsors, drawing an expression of surprise from the president of a Raleigh-based group that lobbies for tighter restrictions on immigration.
"It's amazing that 35 politicians are so out of touch with their constituents," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration.
Illegal immigrants admitted to University of North Carolina schools would take up some of the limited number of spots for in-state residents, Gheen said.
"I hate to see a bill that will eventually replace thousands of Americans in college with illegal immigrants at taxpayer expense," Gheen said.
Supporters of the bill say the alternative is a growing number of young Hispanics without a college education even in the face of growing demand for bilingual workers. Supporters expect 480 students to 1,345 students to apply for admission to University of North Carolina schools this year if the bill passes.
"It makes economic sense to give these students ... an opportunity to succeed," said Andrea Bazan-Manson, executive director of the Raleigh-based Hispanic advocacy group El Pueblo.
Illegal immigrants are allowed to apply to any college they wish to attend, but they must pay out-of-state tuition if they are accepted to a public university in North Carolina, regardless of where they live. The state's flagship university, UNC-Chapel Hill, charges $3,200 a year for in-state tuition, compared to $16,300 for nonresident students.
One result is that many Hispanics quit school, knowing they can't afford to pay for college. About 58 percent of foreign-born Hispanics in North Carolina age 16 to 19 are dropouts, either in their home country or in the United States, according to an analysis of 2000 Census figures by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Rep. Jeff Barnhart, R-Cabarrus, one of the bill's sponsors, said the state wastes the abilities of talented students by restricting access to higher education.
"These children come to live here because their parents brought them," Barnhart said. "How far do we punish? These students are committed to their education and I'm 100 percent committed to helping them."
Jaime Zea, a 16-year-old student at Enloe High School in Raleigh, said many of his fellow Hispanic students have given up on education.
"It's a living hell for them," said Zea, the son of an accountant and a homemaker who moved her legally from Colombia four years ago.
Zea, who plans to attend college to study broadcast journalism and already produces a short news broadcast for his high school, said he wants others to have the same chance he'll have.
"It's not about me. It's about us," he said.
Nine states -- none in the South -- have approved similar legislation, said bill sponsor Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland. Similar measures are pending in 15 other states, including Florida, Georgia, Maryland and Arkansas.
"In the end, this bill is about economic development and it's about educational opportunity, but it's also about the soul of who we are," Glazier said. "Ultimately, it's about children."
Links related to this article:
El Pueblo: www.elpueblo.org
Americans for Legal Immigration PAC: www.alipac.us
URL for this article: http://heraldsun.com/state/6-596323.html
In mexico, college is free.
As we know, many 'experts' suggest that the US is changing or going to change from a well-paying manufacturing / industrial based society to a lesser-paying 'service-based' society. So, please think about that along with a negative birthrate in existence, baby-boomers entering retirement, Americans carrying more debt than ever, and large 'service based' corporations now mainly employing people to perform services in medical, retail, residential construction and food (restaurants & agriculture)industries.
With that said, what would be happening to those economic sectors as far as labor wage if all these illegals were not being allowed to skip across our borders and compete for jobs accepting lower wages as not to be turned in to the INS? With manufacturing jobs being exported left and right, and service labor rates NOT rising with the cost of living (inflation), how hard is our economy to crash just a little down the road?
The US being a huge consumer market, it is the only thing keeping the economy just above water. Think about it. With a growing population from illegals, that is what is keeping things afloat. Don't believe me? Better hold on to the notion that inflation is coming hard and fast, much like what was experienced in the late '70's and early '80's if not worse driven by the increase cost of oil as it was then.
You may think my statements to be a bit negative, but the middle class and lower middle class in this country are under financial attack. When inflation starts its aggressive rise, watch what happens to these economic sectors and our economy. Foreign countries will not buy these services from us and we have much less to export as far as finished manufactured goods. Most all manufactured goods can easily be bought much cheaper from China, Mexico, and SE Asia. All they want is our iron and other ores, timber, wheat, corn, soy beans and the US dollar.
Unfrickin believable - not even the sons and daughters of our service men/women get this benefit - but we are going to give it to illegals? Am I crazy or have the RINOs gone nuts?
>"Illegals pay a lot of money into state coffers without requiring stuff like tax refunds."<
My understanding is that illegal immigrants also take advantage of govt. sevices, including health care, welfare, housing assistance, WIC, food stamps, etc.
In fact, according to some studies; illegal immigrants use almost 3 times more in govt assistance, then they have paid, in tax dollars.
Regards
Not in NC. You have to have a card. I know a family that worked with them and they always complained about a lack of services available to "Undocumented Workers". The kids get some when they get in school but deporting them when they signed up for school would fix that.
What it's going to take is throw all the bums out.
thanks for that info
regards
An illegal alien is someone whose first act is to ignore the laws of the United States.
An illegal alien is someone who has access to medical care and educational opportunities that your and your children are denied, yet have to pay for.
An illegal alien is a component of the wave of illegals that cost US taxpayers billions of dollars per year.
An illegal alien is part of the massive wave of illegals from south of the border that are enabling the implementation of "El Plan de Aztlan" -- the Reconquest of the United States through demographic upheaval to undo the "brutal gringo invasion".
No, AP. Bank of America will let illegals (with a Matricula Consular card) open accounts, and even has a handy expidited "wire funds to Mehico" program in place.
Texas gives everything it can to illegal aliens in-state tuition, welfare, etc. We still have a HUGE drop out rate of high school students. The gimme programs in Texas have not solved any problems They have created more problems.
No, someone from Tenn. doesn`t qualify as illegal unless they came from another country and went to Tenn. illegally in the first place.
We'll be up to our butts with illegals before anyone figures out it is a problem up on Capitol Hill.
The first question to be asked of these sponsors is who is paying you?
Jim Hunt also graduated from your school, NCSU! GRINNNN
Good dissertation on the illegal immigrant problem. Moreover, they should be detained in tent city jails to save costs (as long as they are adequately fed & medically cared for there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. Sheriff Joe Arapaio in Arizona did it, & the crime rate dropped!). Moreover, all immigrants should be implanted with computer chips or prisoner type wrist bands or collars to identify them, esp. those from Mexico. Fines should be doubled for employers who hire them & assets confiscated. Hey, would you like your son or daughter hooked on Mexican drugs & be a lifetime drug user &/or lawbreaker or maybe a vegetable? A large portion of drugs comes from Mexico & is smuggled in by illegals, who are mostly beholden to the people they paid to help bring them over the border. The Mexican government is mostly corrupt (go to dslextreme.com, for a detailed description of how bad the drug problem from Mexico is & how bad illegal immigration hurts the U. S.). Many Mexican generals, police officers, govt. officials, consular personnel, army officers, etc. are on the take from Mexican drug lords. We ought to change our lawful & legal relation to them as a country & treat them as a terrorist supporting state like Iran if they refuse to clean up their act. Terrorist countries derive a lot of money from drugs for use to buy weapons. I wouldn't be surprised if Red China (the largest exporter of illegal drugs in the world), Iran, N. Korea (which already supplies a huge amount of weapons to terrorists), & other Middle Eastern Muslim countries have a hand in this drug trade. Throw in most of the top crime syndicates in the world & you have the most filthiest bunch of dirt bags ever to have a hand in the same pot of stew.
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