According to an article in the Richmond Times Dispatch this morning,
Immigration issues are expected to be a hot-button item at the General Assembly this year, and yesterday the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia pushed the button.
The council authorized its executive director to voice support in the legislature for admitting illegal immigrants to Virginia’s public institutions of higher education.
Several years ago Gov. Mark Warner vetoed legislation that would have denied illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates at Virginia colleges, but the issue has not gone away.
There are some good arguments for educating illegals, one of them made by SCHEV chairman Alan Wurtzel:
… if illegal immigrants have access to higher education, they can contribute to the economy rather than being a burden to it.
“Mark Twain had it right. He said, ‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance,'” Wurtzel remarked.
On the other hand, SCHEV made some silly arguments as well. Here’s one:
Vice Chairman Bittle W. Porterfield III of Roanoke said illegal immigrants are living openly in Virginia and not much of an effort is being made to remove them.
That being the case, Porterfield said, “we have the obligation to educate them.”
So, since we’re not arresting or deporting them we should send them to UVa with reduced tuition?
The Massachusetts House of Representatives just defeated a bill to provide in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. It came as a big surprise as the legislative leadership was for the bill as were the elites, academia, unions, the Boston Globe,etc. All the pundits were predicating their commentary on how large a margin the bill needed to moot Gov. Romney’s threatened veto. Apparently, local talk radio was influential in getting the voters to call their representatives to express their opposition to said bill.
Proponents of the bill have vowed to try again next year. The Left is nothing if not persistant.
Immigrant activist groups have characterized the vote as a result of fear and hatred, the anti-immigrant bigotry of the voters of Massachusetts.
One prominent activist stated that the only immigrants that Massachusetts wants are those who clean floors and wash dishes. No, the immigrants that Massachusetts wants are those who have the integrity to follow the rules and immigrate here legally. By the way, most of the floor cleaners and dishwashers are illegal immigrants.
This is a nasty question. On the one hand, it’s difficult to ignore the plight of plight of a bright high-school student who was smuggled into, say, California from Mexico at the age of two, has no memory of living anywhere else, and can’t afford out-of-state tuition to the CA schools she’s qualified to attend. She is obviously an illegal immigrant, but not a voluntary one, and deporting her just penalizes her for someone else’s actions.
On the other hand, suppose she gets into UC/Berkeley with in-state fees and graduates. What is she supposed to do then? There aren’t many jobs requiring a college education that don’t also require valid and readily-checkable multiple proofs of citizenship, starting with a non-fake SSN. I have a feeling that this push to educate these kids is going to end with a lot of educated, unemployable, and unhappy young people. The obvious response is to make them all citizens, but I don’t think yet another incentive to sneak small children into the country is the answer either. It is very difficult.
Ack. Sorry about “plight of plight” above. Comes of editing too much.
nobody important:
One prominent activist stated that the only immigrants that Massachusetts wants are those who clean floors and wash dishes. No, the immigrants that Massachusetts wants are those who have the integrity to follow the rules and immigrate here legally. By the way, most of the floor cleaners and dishwashers are illegal immigrants.
Well, I strongly suspect that most of the floor cleaners and dish washers are citizens, when they aren’t actually inanimate objects. There is this extraordinary idea that everyone in America employs outside cleaning help. I can vacuum my own carpet and wash my own dishes, thanks, and I rather think most people do. Of course, it doesn’t count as “work” if you are not paid for it, I suppose.
… starting with a non-fake SSN….
Just to complicate matters further: I may well be wrong about this (if so, we’ll find out soon enough), but it’s my impression that many illegals do in fact have non-fake SSNs. If so, they thus pay into the system money that most of them will never get back, which is bad for them but good for the system.
By the way, allowing in-state tuition rates to illegals would all by itself, i.e., without citizenship being conferred, encourage further illegal immigration.
It is indeed a nasty problem.
Michelle,
I was speaking of workers who clean office buildings or restaurant workers. Many of the companies who have contracted to do these jobs hire illegals. In Massachusetts, particularly in the Summer on Cape Cod, most restaurant workers are illegals from Brazil. Up Here, it isn’t a Mexican issue. There are also many, many landscape companies using Irish illegals. These folks come here on tourist visas and work under the table.
“Immigrant activist groups have characterized the vote as a result of fear and hatred, the anti-immigrant bigotry of the voters of Massachusetts.”
Of course they have, if you don’t have a logical arguement you have to create an emotional attack…. that is all they have. There isn’t any valid arguement that can be put forth to allow illegal immigrants in this country to pay less than legal citizens in this country for a college education. If you can allow that then why have an out of state tuition at all??? I’ve paid my taxes in this country for 30 years, how is it ‘ok’ to force me to pay out of state tuition but allow someone that isn’t even in the a citizen of this ‘country’ to pay the lower cost???
“On the one hand, it’s difficult to ignore the plight of plight of a bright high-school student who was smuggled into, say, California from Mexico at the age of two, has no memory of living anywhere else, and can’t afford out-of-state tuition to the CA schools she’s qualified to attend. She is obviously an illegal immigrant, but not a voluntary one, and deporting her just penalizes her for someone else’s actions.”
She is only an ‘involuntary illegal’ if she is still a minor and cannot go back to her home country… if she is of legal age, knows that she is not a citizen, but does not return to ‘her’ country or apply for citizenship she is a ‘voluntary illegal immigrant’. It is still incumbant upon her to take the steps necessary to become a ‘legal citizen of the US’, if not then to be returned to her country.
“but it’s my impression that many illegals do in fact have non-fake SSNs.”
Based upon the Social Security’s web site you have to provide proof of:
Age, Identity, US Citizenship or work authorized immigration status…. if an illegal immigrant has a SSN it is a fake one….
nobody important, I knew what you meant, but I’d just spent some hours vacuuming and washing dishes and doing laundry, and it seemed the right moment to make the point. People do a lot of that work who aren’t illegal immigrants; most people who do it aren’t illegal immigrants. Like I said, some people do not regard this as “work” unless there’s a payroll involved.
deb, I’d say it’s a bit harsh to ask someone who has known no other country and didn’t come her of her own accord to “go back where she came from.” Making her apply for permanent resident status seems a reasonable demand, summary deportation ridiculous.
Re in-state tuition, I used to be of your view, but I’m no longer sure. What is the point of in-state tuition? I would hope it’s getting students who live in and know the state.
I think the point of in-state tuition is that it’s state tax money that partly supports state colleges and universities. Presumably residents of the state are subsidizing those schools and non-residents aren’t.
Even illegals who reside in-state are helping to support those schools if there are state sales taxes and property taxes.
TIRED OF ALL THESE FREEBIES GIVEN TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
WE ARE PRODUCTS OF IMMIGRANT TO CAME TO THIS COUNTRY THE DIFFICULT WAY.
AND THEIR KIDS PAID THEIR OWN WAY THRU COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.