I thought the rest of you might like to see one of the reasons California is in such a dire budget mess.
The state has no business giving hand outs to ANYONE WHO ASKS!
MALDEF Campaign touts law on immigrant tuition cut
A statewide public service campaign to promote a law that allows undocumented immigrant college students to pay lower in-state tuition, was launched Monday.
The radio and television campaign by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund is hoping to reach between 10,000 and 12,000 college students who qualify statewide, said Maria Lucero Ortiz, director of MALDEF's program that does outreach to immigrants on higher education issues.
``We're making sure that no one is left behind getting educational opportunities they're legally entitled to,'' Ortiz said, referring to Assembly Bill 540, which took effect last year. ``We know people know about the law but we want to iron out confusion about the exact requirements.''
The commercials will air for three months, primarily in 10 California counties with large immigrant communities, including Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties in the Bay Area.
Many non-profit immigrant advocacy groups have been promoting the new law, but there has not been a statewide campaign. No one is sure how many students have taken advantage of the law, which is designed for undocumented children who attended and graduated from high schools in California.
``We're talking about children who were not involved in the decision-making of their parents to immigrate to the United States,'' said Richard Hobbs, Santa Clara County's citizenship director.
The law allows the students to pay the lower, resident tuition rates at community colleges and schools in the California State University and the University of California systems. Non-resident community college students, for example, pay an average of $141 per unit each semester; a resident pays $11 per unit.
``A statewide campaign is definitely needed, and it's great that MALDEF is taking the lead,'' said Lisa Castellanos, community education program director for Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN), a San Jose-based immigrant advocacy group.
``If the main obstacle for some students is how to afford college,'' Castellanos said, ``this kind of campaign is needed to help those students know that they can go to school.''
California was one of the first states in the United States to adopt such a law, along with Utah and New York. Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Wisconsin are considering similar proposals. Texas has a more generous law: It allows undocumented students to also apply for state financial aid.
Despite growing national support for laws like AB 540, a debate rages on. Groups that support strict immigration controls are raising new objections.
``The irony is the state of California is $35 billion in the hole and is looking to extend costly benefits to people who are breaking the law,'' said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national group that opposed AB 540.
For additional information on AB 540, visit the Web site of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund at www.maldef.org and click on the link for AB 540.