Thread: CA: Assemblyman Luis Alejo gets in on the Dream Act

Assemblyman Luis Alejo gets in on the Dream Act

By TOVIN LAPAN -- Santa Cruz Sentinel
Posted: 02/15/2011 07:08:30 PM PST
Updated: 02/15/2011 07:12:15 PM PST

State Assemblymen Gil Cedillo and Luis Alejo are trying to find the elusive answer to a question posed by poet Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred?"

Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, has introduced the California Dream Act, which would give undocumented students access to financial aid, three times in the state Legislature. It has passed three times, and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it all three times.

In January, Cedillo, along with principal co-author Alejo, D-Watsonville, announced he would bring a new incarnation of the bill to the Assembly floor this session. Alejo, a freshman assemblyman, has thrown his support behind the bill after meeting numerous undocumented immigrants over the years who were excellent students but did not have the means to attend college, he said.

While some state law makers hope the Dream Act, in the words of Hughes, dries up "like a raisin in the sun," proponents are encouraged by Gov. Jerry Brown's comments supporting the bill during his 2010 campaign.

"There are only so many dollars going into education," said state Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, who is on the Senate Committee for Education. "To fund those here illegally at the cost of those here legally is not good policy."

The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that every year 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools, and 40 percent, 26,000, of those are in California. While California's Latino population is at the forefront of the debate, students from Asia and the Pacific Islands make up 40 percent of the U.S. undocumented student population, according to the Asian Pacific Coalition at UCLA.

"There is money. Thousands of dollars in Cal Grants are not being utilized by students every year," Alejo said. "We have a whole initiative going on right now to promote Cal Grants so more students will apply."

Huff is not swayed by Cedillo's strategy of splitting the bill into two portions - one providing access to privately administered aid and the other to state-funded Cal Grants - saying there is a finite amount of money to go around, especially with large cuts to higher education looming.

Facing a $25.4 billion state budget deficit, Brown has suggested cutting $500 million each from UC and CSU, and $400 million from community colleges.

"We would have to create thousands of new jobs to support the expenditures from this bill, so even if you agree with the principal it doesn't make budgetary sense," Huff said.

To qualify for the Dream Act students must file for AB 540 status, the 2001 bill that offered in-state tuition to undocumented students, children of military personnel and others who attended California high schools for at least three years. Under the law, undocumented immigrants must agree to apply for legal status as soon as they are eligible.

"These are smart, hard working kids on a path to naturalization," said state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, who is on the education committee. "It's a simple question for me. Do I want them in the classroom, or do I want them hanging out on a street corner?"

UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal says undocumented students, many of whom were brought to the country at a young age by family, are "an innocent group of people who work very hard," and would like the prohibitions lifted.

"The universities need the right to raise money for these students. That's the easiest thing to have happen. The regents could approve that," he said. "Second is to allow some of our return to aid money - we hold back a third of paid tuition to use for students who can't afford tuition - to be used for these students. And the third thing is to make those students eligible for Cal Grants. The California Dream Act would accomplish that."

If approved, California would be the third state to offer financial aid to undocumented students after Texas and New Mexico.

All of the legislators interviewed agreed the federal government must work on comprehensive immigration reform, so states do not continue with piecemeal initiatives.

AT A GLANCE

CALIFORNIA DREAM ACT

The state legislation has been previously proposed by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, three times. The current incarnation is split into two bills, AB 130 and AB 131. The first bill would allow students who meet the in-state tuition requirements to apply for and receive specified financial aid administered by California's public colleges and universities. The types of aid these students would be eligible for include: Board of Governors Fee Waiver and Institutional Student Aid, a student aid program administered by the attending college or university. The second bill would allow students who meet the in-state tuition requirements to apply for and receive Cal Grants.

SOURCE: California State Legislature, www.legislature.ca.gov/port-bilinfo.html

www.mercurynews.com

These politiciasn are destroying California. Let's vote these politicians out. And let's deport all illegal aliens now.

Part of what we need though is a federal law passed that the Fed government CANNOT bail out states under any circumstance. If California wants to run amuck they bankrupt themselves and Feds call in the debt as do all the other debters.

We also need when we have control of the Senate under reasonable legislators to cut any aid packages if the state has any programs that go against federal law in any form. 1 Santuary city and the state is cut off completely, 1 county refusing to cooperate with ICE and the entire State is cut off.... on EVERYTHING.

State Assemblymen Gil Cedillo and Luis Alejo are trying to find the elusive answer to a question posed by poet Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred?"

In a just and law abiding society it (the "DREAM") gets deported, along with those who support it and demand it! I'm not sure which is worse, the illegal invaders demanding rights and privileges not reserved for them or the la raza traitors representing California.

Now you know why California is being flushed down the toilet.