I know the whole story, your side and the other side, and my own thinking falls somewhere in the middle. But the US Supreme Court has ruled that children can't be denied access to public schooling on the basis of immigrant status. So it would probably take a Constitutional Amendment, not simply an act of legislation, to change that. And from a pragmatic view, one can see big problems with not allowing these children into the schools.
But I do agree that we need to find a better way to control our borders and to make sure that everyone working in this country is paying their share of the taxes.
Do you have a specific USCS ruling that pertains to this issue? We can stop them from getting various federal and state benefits based on their status, including things like in-state tuition for higher education.
Initially, I am not advocating that we stop them from attending school, but I do want the local schools to require that their immigration status be identified and that this data be accummulated to get a handle on the problem. I want the hospitals to do the same. Pragmatically, I find it hard to accept that we must pay property taxes to fund the education of people who are illegally in our country. Or pay increased health insurance payments to pay for their care in our hospital ERs. By doing so, we are attracting more illegal aliens to our shores. There is a limit to our resources, pragmatically speaking.
But I do agree that we need to find a better way to control our borders and to make sure that everyone working in this country is paying their share of the taxes.
I am for Mom and apple pie too. Such pollyanish statements do little to solve this growing problem. The devil is in the details. It may take measures like cutting off all social welfare benefits to stem the tide. We have a very small window of opportunity that is closing fast to turn things around. Our opponents will soon be able to use the political system to achieve their objectives.
That was 25 years ago. I think the issue needs to be raised again. This time the states and local jurisdictions should seek reimbursement from the federal government for such costs involved in educating illegals. This would require the schools to gather data so that they could bill the USG, which is responsible for maintaining our borders and enforcing our immigration laws.