I am curious, however, why you would say the ILLEGAL aliens had to be "on a path to citizenship" when that clearly isn't true? I've had this discussion with many Perry supporters who have all said the same thing. How is it a Californian (me) knows that yet Perry's supporters/defenders do not?
Because it is required, the problem is that the USCIS is so back up there is no way to believe that they can get their status changed in the same amount of time that it takes to finish school. But, as you pointed out, it does no good to get the degree if they do not change their status.
However, I think you have decided that Texas' attempt to put a small dent into a massive problem we have is just not something you approve of so this conversation is moot, I don't like it either, I just don't want it characterized as something it's not. We are left with very few options and it is getting worse each and every time Obama takes a bus load of illegals from your state and transports them to mine. The belief that every illegal swimming across the Rio Grande is getting a hand out from Rick Perry is just not an accurate belief and of all the people running he is the only one in the fight and is the only one who has any real understanding of the issue and that puts him at the top of the line for me. But regardless of what Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum want people to believe, people are not flooding across the border to get a $151 discount at our Jr. Colleges, you can't fence the Rio Grande and it's the US Governments fault that we are being over run by illegals, not the State of Texas or Rick Perry.
The one advantage that Texans have over most states is that the illegals here are at least state tax payers too, so if their kids make it into to college here then they have the same skin in the game that I do as far as the state schools goes, the difference is when my kids graduate they get to use their degree, assuming there are any jobs for them.
We have somewhere around 1.1 to 1.2 million illegals in our state that we are forced to educate, feed and provide medical care for and while we're doing that we are still out performing, out growing and out producing the rest of the country and that says a lot more about Rick Perry than some stupid comment he made in the middle of a debate.