Thread: Durbin's Bad Dream

Durbin's Bad Dream

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 9/19/2007

The DREAM Act: Illinois' senior senator backs in-state tuition for illegal aliens from neighboring countries but not American citizens from neighboring states. Do we need more incentives for illegal immigration?

Related Topics: Immigration

Durbin's "DREAM Act" (for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) is actually a recurring nightmare, a bad idea that died as part of "comprehensive" immigration reform but which the assistant majority leader has stealthily attached to, of all things, a defense spending bill.

But this is amnesty by any other name. It gives aliens who entered this country before the age of 16, and who have successfully evaded the law for five years, conditional green-card status that can later be converted to a regular green card. Then it can be used to seek green cards for the parents who brought their child here illegally.

That this amounts to back-door amnesty is borne out by the legislation's lack of an upper age limit for an illegal alien to apply. Any alien of any age can simply queue up at the nearest Customs and Immigration office and declare that he or she was here illegally before reaching 16. No documentation or proof is required.

It also allows illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition rates at public universities, discriminating against legal foreign students and children of U.S. citizens from other states. When she supported similar legislation as part of the failed comprehensive immigration reform package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "Our country does not benefit by depriving young people of an education." Does that include the children of U.S. citizens?

True, children of illegal aliens didn't get a vote when their parents chose to enter the U.S. illegally. But our country does not benefit when its laws are ignored or its citizens are denied the same benefits available to those who have sneaked past the Border Patrol.

Durbin's legislation repeals a 1996 law that bars any state from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens who have gotten by a Border Patrol agent unless the children of that agent are also offered the same opportunity. After all, should illegal aliens in a state get preference over, say, the children of 9/11 victims?

Title 8, Chapter 14, Sec. 1623 clearly states that "an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state . . . for any post-secondary education benefit unless a citizen or national is eligible for such a benefit." Durbin's legislation speaks only of benefiting "alien minors."

Ten states (California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Utah, Texas and Washington) have their own versions of DREAM. The financial benefits of these programs to illegal aliens are as great as the penalty imposed on U.S. citizens.

As Kris Kobach, visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, points out, a student from Missouri attending the University of Kansas with not so much as a parking ticket is charged three times the tuition as an illegal alien whose very presence is a violation of federal criminal law. Durbin wants to extend this justice nationwide.

Break this nation's laws, don't get caught, and U.S. taxpayers struggling to send their own kids to college, many taking out loans, will subsidize your kid's education as he takes up the spot that might have gone to the child of a veteran from, say, Operation Iraqi Freedom, who can't afford it because he or she was born in, say, Illinois.

Americans are beginning to wonder what benefits accrue to being a U.S. citizen when illegal aliens and their offspring are treated better than law-abiding citizens. So are we.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/edit ... 3994588619

Americans are beginning to wonder what benefits accrue to being a U.S. citizen when illegal aliens and their offspring are treated better than law-abiding citizens. So are we.


I so agree with that from the article. I heard real anger on the radio this morning about this. And yet it may pass. Madness. Keep calling folks. We hear we have twenty confirmed votes against this -need 41 yes? Burn the midnight oil...[/i][/quote]

I posted this story on another webpage.......

Thanks,

Added to Home PAge
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=N ... e&sid=2572

SENATOR NELSON IS VERY GENEROUS WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS!!

Thank you for contacting me about the DREAM Act, introduced by a bipartisan group of senators.

I believe every child, regardless of ethnicity or nationality, should have the opportunity to get a higher education. I appreciate your taking the time to convey your concerns to me and will keep them in mind when the Senate debates this issue.



P.S. From time to time, I compile electronic news briefs highlighting key issues and hot topics of particular importance to Floridians. If you'd like to receive these e-briefs, visit my Web site and sign up for them at http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/ebriefs.cfm