Connecticut ping!
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
Posted on 02/14/2007 12:41:46 PM PST by Graybeard58
HARTFORD -- Victoria Perez traveled to the state Capitol Tuesday to ask for a future.
Perez, a senior at New Haven's Wilbur Cross High School, aspires to go to college next year to prepare for a career in criminal justice. But she has no idea how she'll foot the bill.
The problem: She's in the United States illegally, and therefore doesn't qualify for in-state tuition rates at Connecticut's public colleges and universities. Out-of-state tuition costs three times as much.
To Perez, a native Mexican brought to the United States at 3 years old, that simply isn't fair.
"We're all created equal. I mean, we're all humans," the soft-spoken 18-year-old said.
Perez and dozens of immigrant-rights activists gathered in Hartford on Tuesday to support a bill to change that policy and extend in-state tuition rates to all residents, regardless of immigration status, at the University of Connecticut, community colleges and other public schools.
"There is no group as disenfranchised in the education system as undocumented students," said Rep. Felipe Reinoso, D-Hartford, a sponsor of the measure.
Ten other states have passed similar laws.
Those favoring the idea list numerous advantages, from improving the quality of the state's work force to extending basic decency to ambitious young people who, in many cases, did not personally violate the law.
"These kids were brought here, sometimes without any choice or against their will," Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.
Supporters also note that federal student aid is off-limits to illegal immigrants.
The bill has no formal cost estimate, though it's certain to impact taxpayers, who subsidize in-state seats at public colleges. Some supporters estimate no more than 250 students would take advantage of the discount each year.
Regardless, Blumenthal said, the price would be fully justified, calling it "an investment that will repay itself many times over."
The idea also faces plenty of opponents, and a similar bill was narrowly defeated by the legislature two years ago. Since then, the issue has become far more polarized as immigration has accelerated.
About 11 percent of Connecticut's population was foreign-born in 2000, according to the U.S. Census, up from 8.5 percent in 1990, a difference of about 91,000 people.
During Tuesday's hearing before the higher education committee, Sen. Dan Debicella, R-Shelton, called the bill "a massive subsidy" for illegal immigrants.
"If someone has not followed the laws of the U.S. to become a citizen, why do they deserve to get the same level of tuition as legal residents?" Debicella asked.
"This seems to reward behavior that we seek to deter," the senator said.
Rep. Pamela Z. Sawyer, R-Bolton, worried the measure could hurt the state's aspiring college students by heightening the competition for admission. Many community college students are single mothers struggling to make ends meet, she said.
"There are a lot of pressures on education dollars currently in the state of Connecticut," Sawyer said.
Though several religious and civil liberties groups support the measure, it's certain to face opposition from critics of illegal immigration. Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control, a group based in Darien, mobilized significant opposition to the idea when it last faced a vote in 2005.
Rep. Selim Noujaim, R-74th District, a member of the higher education committee, said he would support the bill only for undocumented students who were brought to the United States by their parents.
"If they entered the country illegally, I would not want any part of it," said Noujaim, who was born in Lebanon and moved to the U.S. legally in 1971.
Nadia Minor, one supporter of the bill, counts herself among the lucky.
A Mexican and a cousin of Victoria Perez, she was brought to the United States at 7 years old. Though the 20-year-old graduated in the top 5 percent of her New Haven high school class, she said, she expected her illegal status to block her from college. She didn't even apply.
But Perez eventually won legal residency, thanks to her mother's native-born husband, and now attends Central Connecticut State University. She wants her cousin and her friends to have the same opportunity.
"I feel like we're paying for mistakes we didn't make," said Minor, who hopes to attend law school. "We didn't choose to come here."
No you can live in any country in the world and join the us military. Always been that way.
Exactly.
Simple solution, DEPORT!!!!!
unbelievable
These illegals don't think they are illegal. None of them do! This country is in for a very bad time in the near future.
Illegal aliens really shouldn't expect special treatment.
Why? Just because people break into this country, pay no taxes, and want admission to taxpayer supported universities?
.......my blood is boiling too!
"To allow these to get off the hook and pay in-state tuition is an insult to not only those who worked their butts off to seek legal channels of entering our country, but an insult to every taxpayer that is basically subsidizing college for people who have no right to be here to begin with."
All we need to know!
Ignoring the fact that we're talking about ILLEGALS here, how much farther "out of state" can you get than coming from another country.
Surely there are just as needy students in other US states that are American citizens. They don't qualify.
This subject is so absurd, and to see some Republicans giving it credence by considering it is beyond the pale. The fact that any elected official can discuss this with a straight face, well, it makes me wonder what chemicals were hidden in my food today.
Actually, I believe that there's a federal law that cuts off federal funds to colleges in states that give tuition breaks to illegal aliens.
What's the big deal? Maybe if the illegal aliens apply to Bank of America, they'll be able to get a loan!
Mark
Your right that you can join the military from any country in the world but you must be a legal resident, hence need a green card.
...exactly 8^)
I keep hearing, over and over again, about the "Ugly Americans" from the "nuanced" left. These are American citizens who visit other countries, and expect the other countries governments and citizens to bend over backwards to accommodate them. Usually, this translates to "those 'ugly Americans' actually expected English to be spoken!" The left, being so "nuanced," denounce and persecute those "ugly Americans."
These very same leftists are the first to demand that American government and citizens bend over backwards to accommodate illegal aliens...
They demand that we follow all the foreign countries' customs, and speak the native language while visiting there, but these same a$$hat$ demand that we change our society to better suit illegal invaders.
Sorry for the rant.
Mark
Connecticut ping!
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
This really makes me sick. Thanks for the ping, though... I alerted the CT list.
Might want to warn everybody about this too:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1785134/posts
It's all about self-loathing.
Thanks, FRiend. I alerted everyone on my four ping lists! :o)
People who are on multiple ping lists will be pinged multiple times....... Better safe than sorry. I also emailed the article to everyone in my address book. I had two jars of the junk in my cabinet.
Sorry about my post #78 to you... I meant to post that to you on the contaminated peanut butter thread.
It's late... ;-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.