US Senators Want More "Rights" For Illegals
by Terry Graham (4/25/07)
Idaho’s US Senators Want More “Rights” for Illegals
by Terry Graham
Idaho’s US Senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo are among the few co-sponsors, including Ted Kennedy, to promote a Federal bill that would cost Americans billions of tax dollars while Citizens’ opportunities for higher education are lost to “amnestied” illegal aliens.
The so-called “DREAM Act of 2007” (Development, Relief, and Education for ALIEN Minors -Senate Bill 774) guts a Federal law so that the head of Homeland Security can arbitrarily grant amnesty to (i.e., legalize) illegal aliens under age 18 who have evaded deportation due to the Feds outrageous failures to enforce immigration laws.
(To read S 774, see http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c110:1:./temp/~c110MMpiPY:e1418:)
These “minor” illegals already have cashed in on “free” K-12 educations ($6000-$8000/year) at Citizen expense. The DREAM Act makes them eligible for steep in-state tuition discounts, scholarships, financial aid and jobs at American colleges and universities, and a “pathway to Citizenship.”
Fully implementing the DREAM Act requires a companion State bill. Idaho House Bill 220 (College/University Residency Requirement), introduced this year, rewards illegals who file an affidavit with “an institution of higher education” stating s/he has applied, or will apply, for legal status, to then qualify as a legal resident eligible for in-state tuition rates. (Currently, illegals can enroll as foreign students with justifiably higher tuition rates, the same rates charged to out-of-state Citizens.) HB 220 even makes these scofflaw students’ illegal status “confidential”.
Though HB 220 allows illegals to qualify for steeply discounted in-state tuition, the bill’s official description falsely claims it “doesn’t provide undocumented immigrant [illegal alien] students with “any benefit that out-of-state CITIZEN students do not receive.” But out-of-state Citizens pay far higher “non-resident” tuition at Idaho’s colleges.
The State’s website also asserts that HB 220 has “no fiscal impact.” Yet with in-state vs. non-resident/foreign student semester tuition rates set at: UI $2100/$6900; ISU $2905/$6230; BSU $2077/$5966; NIC $996/$3272, thousands of dollars in revenues will be lost each semester by making even one illegal (i.e., foreign student ) a “legal resident.” Lost fees will likely exceed millions of dollars in a few short years.
While illegals should be deported swiftly to save Citizens’ money (not to mention our national sovereignty), the DREAM Act and Idaho HB 220 “confidentially” reward them for continuing illegal behavior. Does this open-borders stance reflect the wishes of Idahoans or Americans?
Having fought these bills in two states, I’m familiar with the DREAM Scheme and lies used to promote it.
For example:
The DREAM Act is for “the children of illegal aliens.” Truth is, these “children” (many of whom are parents of anchor babies) are themselves illegal aliens.
“These [illegal] children should not be punished for the illegal acts of their parents.” But children usually suffer from their parents’ bad choices and crimes. Their parents, not Americans, are at fault. We are a nation of laws and have a right, a duty, to enforce them. Deport them! They can earn college degrees, or apply for international student visas, in their homelands.
If such aliens (who evaded detection and deportation to graduate from Idaho high schools) cannot afford foreign student tuition rates, they should seek benefactors such as Senators Craig and Crapo, who can fund them out of their own pocketbooks.
Here’s a quick summary of why Citizens should oppose the DREAM Act at the Federal (S 774) and State (Idaho HB 220) level.
The DREAM Act means:
* Illegals will be rewarded for their illegal acts by attending colleges at rates that should be reserved for our own Citizens
* Americans will have to compete with illegals for limited seats at U.S. college/universities
* Illegals will compete with poor, disabled, needy Citizens for scarce scholarships, grants, work/study jobs, etc.
* Out-of-state American Citizens will pay far higher, profitable tuition rates than illegals
* Law-abiding foreign students will pay far higher “foreign student” tuition rates, while lawbreaking illegals -- who otherwise would be foreign students -- enjoy “legal resident” rates
* Citizens’ dreams of higher education and better job opportunities will be lost to illegal aliens empowered to compete on a level playing field
* In some states, American soldiers, their spouses, and children stationed outside of their home states will pay far higher out-of-state tuition, while illegals pay low in-state rates
* These (now educated) illegal aliens will then compete with Citizens in the job market. The false claim that they “only do the work Americans won’t do” will become “they qualify for and deserve the jobs many Americans want”
* Resulting lost revenues will drain State coffers, requiring tuition increases, budget cuts, and higher tax subsidies to compensate.
Senators. Craig and Crapo should review their oaths of office and understand that they swore to serve Americans, not illegal aliens. Only when every single one of the Senators’ employers (We the People) have fulfilled our dreams of accessing good, affordable higher education, and achieving appropriate career paths should our Federal and State legislators even begin to consider that this privilege be handed on a silver platter to anyone else. Better yet, get the Feds out of education altogether.
The bottom line? The DREAM Act is a huge tax-grab from tax-strapped Citizens and a major assault upon our nation’s sovereignty by globalists intent upon merging us into the North American Union (NAU/SPP). Undeserving illegal aliens already parasitizing our nation will be rewarded with the keys to our campuses and a pirate’s pathway to that most precious birthright, paid for with the blood of our ancestors: American Citizenship.
©2007 Terry Graham
Permission is granted to reproduce this article as is, with proper attribution. Any other usage, without written permission by Terry Graham, violates copyright law. She can be reached at teegra22@yahoo.com
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