Posted on 09/05/2001 2:50:41 PM PDT by Mercuria
The California Assembly is considering legislation that would extend in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants who have graduated from California high schools.
Assemblymen Marco Firebaugh (D-Los Angeles) and Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) said their legislation would create a level playing field for all high school graduates in the state, regardless of their immigration status.
The California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR), however, insists billions of dollars are already spent to educate illegal immigrants and that the Firebaugh-Maldonado bill would reward lawbreakers.
"There [are] a great number of students in California that have worked hard academically and have been able to achieve," said Firebaugh's Press Secretary Ricardo Lara. "What we're seeing and hearing is that when the kids graduate from high school, and get accepted to various public colleges and universities throughout the state, [they] are forced to pay three times the tuition rate [compared with in-state students]."
Lara claims that many of the students being granted in-state tuition have come into the country illegally because of their parents rather than their own individual actions.
"The stories that we have been hearing are that a lot of these kids have been here since they were the age of one. Obviously the parents brought them over, so they had no idea that they were undocumented and they had no idea that they were 'illegal'," he said. "We can't blame the kids for what their parents did.
"Since the high schoolers cannot initiate the process of legalization themselves, unless obviously they are over the age of 18," Lara said. "What our thinking is, is that these kids are here for most of their lives, they are not going to go anywhere, so the best we can do is to at least help them get an education."
Lara argues that illegal immigrant students are a lost resource, who would be much better used than high tech workers who are imported from abroad.
"They are not getting any benefits, [and] they still are going to have to pay tuition," he said. "We're putting these students at a higher standard," because these students have to have lived in California for three years and graduated from a California high school, compared to the one-year requirement for out of state residents who move to California.
Mexican-American advocates are pleased with the Firebaugh-Maldonado bill that currently sits in the Appropriations Committee of the California Senate.
"We think it is a good thing that the state is not dealing with immigration law, but dealing with education policy for its state and its students," said Liz Guillen, legislative counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF). "They (illegal immigrants) have been in this state for years.
"The way the bill is written, out-of-state students can get this if they cross the border and attend high school here, so this doesn't [bill] distinguish on the basis of immigration status," she said.
Guillen is confident of the bill's passage because its sponsors have been working with Democratic Gov. Gray Davis's office to craft a bill to the governor's liking.
Guillen shares Lara's belief that granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants will help make them productive members of society, and limit their need for state social services such as welfare.
"We think that the benefits that the state will enjoy as a result of these students [receiving an] education will be beyond what people are concerned about at the moment," Guillen said.
Davis is waiting to see the final form of the bill before deciding whether to support it, according to his spokesman, Roger Salazar.
However, the bill has stiff opposition from the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR), which complains that California residents are already required to pay billions of dollars to pay for the education of illegal immigrants.
"The money that we already pay to educate them from K-12 is already in the multi-billions," said CCIR Chairwoman Barbara Coe. "Now we are supposed to stand quietly by and then double or triple it to put them through college. I don't think so.
"You have students from other states who are forced to pay out-of-state tuition while you lawbreakers are given carte blanche, so we oppose it very, very strongly, and we're fighting it as best as we can," she said.
Coe indicates that CCIR would like to legally challenge the bill if Davis signs it into law, but adds that the group does not have enough money to pursue such a lawsuit.
Of course it's an issue in New Hampshire. You are not insulated from this invasion. I am sure there are several thousand criminal illegal aliens there. And more are headed your way friend. Coming to a neighborhood near you. Bet the rent.
Socialism, and more socialism until America is entirely SOCIALIST and COMMUNIST. Kiss the Bill of Rights goodbye along with the Constitution and welcome your new society living under the control of the United Nations!
But they get away with it only because a generation and a half of college students have been brainwashed into the lunacy of an undifferentiated humanity--of the interchangeability of human types. People with a sense of kith and kin, of shared history, etc., would never tolerate this madness.
The idea of loyalty to a species, rather than to those within that species with whom one shares a closer history and genes, is a novel bit of Socialist promotion. It claims support in Western Theology, but it actually has none. Both the Old and New Testaments are very conscious of blood lines and ethnicity (racial variation and shared history). The Secular Humanists seek to replace God with Humanity, of course, but that is another story.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
Because that's what good little compassionate conservatives do.
And with their radical liberal education, spoon-fed to them by Marxist ideologues in American universities who cannot be fired (thanks to the tenure system), they take their superior education, paid for with taxpayer money, along with their self-perception as victims, and armed with hiring preferences go on to be legislators, executives and judges.
And they wonder why Hillary won in New York. She's but the vanguard of this phenomenon. There will be others.
Seize the university, and you capture the future.
Sooooooooooooooooooo...
...guess I'd rather fight than switch, as the ol' see-ga-ret ad goes!
Same result, really!
Enough of a majority in our state government favors such benefits that it makes a MAJORITY of the citizens mighty uncomfy...which is why I posted this story to begin with.
There is a resistance against such ideas of rewarding criminal aliens at the expense (and with tuition rates, among other things, I AM talking literal EXPENSE) of law-abiding citizens.
How strong and/or victorious that resistance will be against forces who LITERALLY wish our nation ill and desire to conquer in the name of Aztlan and its Marxist/pagan roots or socialism...God alone knows.
Humanists ignore spiritual battles, no matter how strong and how visible they are.
Ignoring them or whitewashing them won't make these battles go away.
In my state, the employers who wish to pay low wages with no benefits like illegal immigration, it lets the taxpayers subsidize their cheap labor so they make more money. The illegals favor illegal immigration, they made the choice to ignore the immigration laws and like that they'll be moved ahead of the suckers who followed the laws. And Bush seems to favor them.
Illegal Immigrants Face Obstacles to College
Kimberly Hayes Taylor
July 09, 2001
More than 15 years after his parents illegally carried him across the Mexican border, the story of how David Juarez came to the United States threatens to derail his dreams of college and career.
Like other illegal immigrants, Juarez, 19, of Minneapolis, can't qualify for most financial aid programs and would have to pay steep nonresident tuition rates at Minnesota schools.
Although he long kept his immigration status secret, Juarez's ambition to become a graphic artist has inspired him to join a local group urging that more college doors be opened for students who illegally entered the country at an early age.
"I didn't ask to come to this country," Juarez said. "My parents brought me here and I've been here most of my life. I just want a chance. I want some hope."
A 1982 Supreme Court ruling guarantees children who entered the country illegally the right to attend public schools through high school, but not college.
Most college applications demand proof of legal residency or citizenship, and without them, prospective students can't participate in federal grant and loan programs.
In many states, students without proper documents are considered international students and must pay out-of-state tuition rates.
The cost difference can be considerable. At the University of Minnesota, in-state students pay $4,876 per year in tuition; others pay $13,462.
Michael A. Olivas, director of the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance at the University of Houston Law Center, said that many undocumented students are high achievers.
Aiming high
"These are extremely talented kids. This year, in Houston, we identified 14 of them as valedictorians out of 37 high schools," said Olivas, who has researched and written about the issue for 20 years. "These children are basically indistinguishable from U.S. citizen kids."
He estimates that about 25,000 undocumented students find a way to attend public U.S. colleges and universities, but that another 50,000 to 75,000 are qualified to attend college but can't because of financial barriers.
About 8,000 Hispanic students attend public high schools in the Twin Cities area; activists are unsure how many entered the country illegally.
Elena Shaw, a Minneapolis educator, said that many students who are illegal residents are Hispanic, but that some also are Somali, Vietnamese and Hmong.
Juarez and other local activists want state colleges and universities to stop asking applicants their immigration status, and are hoping that the students can become eligible for financial aid.
"The whole idea behind this organization is a way for public policy to change," said Juan Linares, a Minneapolis organizer.
State by state
Other states, including Texas and Georgia, have changed laws to classify illegal immigrants as in-state students as long as they meet other residency requirements. Similar proposals have been made in New York, California and Illinois.
Typically, the new laws benefit students who came to the United States before age 16, have lived here for at least five years and are 25 or younger. They also must be enrolled in a two-or four-year college or be preparing to attend.
Dan Palmquist, a Minneapolis attorney, is drafting a proposed change to Minnesota law and working to line up legislative support.
He said that asking students about their national origin on college applications is a violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
"The kids that are here now didn't come here of their own volition," Palmquist said. "But they are still being asked to be productive members of this society without any of the rights. That shouldn't be."
Critics resist extending further aid to immigrants who came to the United States illegally.
"If these kids are illegal aliens from illegal alien families, then they need to be removed," said Mark Krikorian , executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C.
But advocates argue that the children shouldn't be punished for their parents' actions and say that foreclosing the possibility of a college education is demoralizing to young teens.
"We have kids who are losing motivation when they are 12 and 13 years old," said Jennifer Godinez, who runs a Minneapolis Latino youth agency. "Not because they are not good in academic areas, but because they think they cannot go on to college."
Juarez said he was like that when he was younger. When he was 12, he said, he began drinking, smoking and cutting class. Finally, he dropped out of school. But after several jobs mopping floors and waiting tables, he decided that getting an education offered the promise of a better future.
He returned to school and now is a senior at El Colegio, an alternative arts high school in Minneapolis. He has had paintings displayed in the school's galleries and in the community.
A wider dialogue
Local college and immigration officials are joining the discussion sparked by Juarez and others.
Curtis Aljets, director of the St. Paul district office of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, said he plans to attend the community group's next meeting.
And Michael Naughton, director of the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, said the school feels obligated to help Catholic immigrants. The school developed a scholarship fund that offers one $17,000 annual scholarship to a Latino student. The recipients, however, must return to their homeland and apply as foreign exchange students.
"We have certain laws on the books that are not dealing adequately with the new realities," Naughton said. "Universities are in a tough bind. They are obligated to work within the rules, but they would like to see those rules change."
-- Kimberly Hayes Taylor is at ktaylor@startribune.com.
More coverage from the Star Tribune is available at http://www.startribune.com
Star Tribune Company
Charming and touching story, but I don't feel that he's "entitled" to take taxpayer money to make his dream come true.
See what I mean about illegal aliens coming to our nation without any desire whatsoever to become citizens?
If he DOESN'T wish to become a citizen...then he should lean on HIS OWN PRESIDENT, Vicente Fox, to assist in making a better life for him in HIS and HIS PARENTS' home country.
Not on OUR PRESIDENT.
Not on OUR CITIZENS.
Should he not have had the proper skin color and national background...he would NOT have gotten that scholarship.
I work with a dedicated lady with citizen relatives who waited TWENTY YEARS before coming here to become a working citizen here herself. She waited that long because, although she is definitely a minority...but she was not a citizen from the "right" country who would be granted near immediate citizenship and/or alien benefits based on the fact that HER original home country has a low "quota" admission for alien admission into the U.S.
And while she waited for permission to come here to work...she waited in HER OWN COUNTRY. She felt no need to break our laws.
I hear there going to merge with ORMED.
When illegals start paying state taxes, then they can have reduced tutition.
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