Thread: Speak out about illegal immigration

Speak out about illegal immigration
http://www.gazette.net/stories/092007/f ... 2357.shtml

It is surprising to me how many people are not voicing their opinion on illegal immigration. This issue affects so many aspects of our society that it is impossible to not be touched by it.

School children are being taught to the lowest denominator, and that is not a measure of success for our children; just ask Fairfax County Schools about how their rankings have fallen tremendously since the influx of illegal immigrant children whose prior education was substandard.
To be fair, it is not all the fault of the illegal immigrant children, but it is a major factor when there is an overwhelming reduction in the comprehension curve related to language barriers so the entire class has to be reset to a lower standard of acceptance for passage.

The blame for this assault on our education system resides with the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling by the court that allowed illegal immigrant children to attend schools was in the 1982 case of Plyler v. Doe.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision was 5-4. Majority members were: Harry Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, Lewis Franklin Powell Jr., and John Paul Stevens; the members of the dissent were: Warren E. Burger, Sandra Day O’Connor, William Rehnquist, and Byron White.

Perhaps the court got it wrong. All agreed that it is one thing to have an educated society, but disagreed that the law in question rose to the level of unconstitutional. The dissent felt that the issue was a matter for Congress, not the court.

At the time of this decision, there was only conjecture of what the implications of the case results would create; however, now we have clear results to consider.

It is believed that the outcome of this case would be different if today’s Supreme Court heard it. The declining educational achievement levels, coupled with the strain on educational resources, and the alarming rate that teachers are leaving the profession are causes for concern.

Further, does the Supreme Court believe that it benefits American society to have millions of children who were educated in our schools (who upon graduation from high school are now competing with children of citizens to get scholarships and funding) occupy seats in our colleges and universities that citizens should occupy?

Even if these students can afford their own tuition, they cannot legally get a job. So the end result is an underground life for them as long as they live in the United States.

Meanwhile, as these students traverse the lives they have been granted, they continue to affect the infrastructure of our nation on levels not considered at the time of Plyler v. Doe.

That is the tragedy. We have created a monster that can only be slain with the reversal of that decision. Municipalities are already passing laws that limit or deny social services to illegal immigrants.

When is the federal government going to see that American citizens want them to pass legislation (and enforce it rigorously) that denies all services that use tax dollars to support illegal immigration?

We are a nation of immigrants, but the people who are not following the rules continue to disgrace the memory of those who came legally and tarnish our nation’s greatest strength in the process.

Howard Haley, Gaithersburg

Well said Mr Haley. Whenever I see how much I'm paying in school taxes it irks me to know that they would be much lower if I wasn't paying for children of illegals.