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Hmmm...a couple points. But first let me point out that I am in favor of mining the border (kind of like the way the old East/West Germany border was set up.) That said...

First of all, technically their 1st through K12 education is mainly paid for in most states via property taxes. Which even if you are a renter you pay (because of course the property taxes are passed on to the renters.) So, while the illegals may weasel their way out of income tax, they get stuck with property tax along with the rest of us. So they are kicking in a share for the education up through K12.

Second of all, I don't think anywhere in the article did it say someone was proposing to give them a free ride in college. So...while we need to shut the border down hard and kick out the illegals we find -- we should focus on the facts.

In Brownsville, Tx. the government subsidizes the anchor mothers with their rent. For a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment, this anchor mother will only have to pay $200.00 per month for herself and her child. Not only does the child get a free education, but this child get free speech therapy as he has a speech problem. She also collects food stamps and gets free health care for herself and the child.

If her boyfriend, who is not the child's father, moves in with her then her rent will go to less than $200.00.

Just a tiny little comment. The notion that the illegals are kicking in a share for education has one little cultural caveat. Property tax rates are supposed to be a function of the average occupancy of dwellings. That's one of the reasons there are occupancy limits in residential codes. Since it's an average, small families are unfairly taxed while large families (living in approximately equal value dwellings) are unfairly rewarded. It's an argument for simply charging tuition.

But the Mexicans here have solved the problem. Just put 2 to 3 families in a house. For most of them, this situation is usually far better than what they came from -- one American tract home is a palace by any Mexican standard. Just yesterday another poster jokingly paraphrased a SoCal newspaper headline:"House in La Puente burns, 30 people homeless".

This means that whatever property tax they are paying through rent is badly diluted by the large number of illegal occupants. City zoning codes are not just about harassment for the sake of property values. They're about making sure that costs are not disproportionate.

Enforcement of occupancy codes is defeated by the usual mechanism: any enforcement of such codes against the saintly Mexican illegals is "racist" and "discriminatory" and "victimization of poor people".

So the saw that "we pay taxes too" is just that. Anyone who wants to look at the California budget deficit will quickly realize that illegal aliens and their children are net negative contributors. And just because they pay sales taxes when they buy food and property taxes when they pay rent should not bestow any rights. They made the choice to come into the country against our laws, not us. The fact that some portion of their lives is not contrary to law is not a legitimating factor. It's merely an artifact of living here, nothing more.