NJ Dem. lawmaker: illegals should get in-state tuition
This woman is out of her mind....NJ citizens pay the highest rates of taxes, have a disproportionate amount of illegal aliens to support in that state, have a big illegal alien crime problem (gangs, drugs, etc.), and she is publicly shilling for illegal aliens in NJ......
Undocumented and college
Sunday, February 8, 2009
BY VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
NorthJersey.com
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Are we not a more civilized and learned people than those who hung out the signs "No Irish Need Apply"?
AMONG recommendations of Governor Corzine's Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigration is the controversial idea of allowing undocumented immigrants to receive in-state tuition rates at state colleges.
An undocumented individual who could not produce a Social Security number is now required to pay regular tuition, which in many cases makes attending a state college virtually impossible.
Over the past several years, we have come to know many bright, deserving young people who have had their futures cut short. For example, Angelica, who graduated seventh in her high school class of more than 400 and anticipated going on to a pre-med program in college, now works at a local restaurant, and has tried to take a class per semester to keep her dream of becoming a doctor alive.
There are thousands of children like her across the state, many of whom were brought here at a very young age by their parents. They made no choice of their own to cross a river or overstay a visa; they just wound up here in America, in New Jersey.
Still many more of these high school juniors and seniors are in the limbo of a national immigration policy created by the mismanagement, ineptitude and simple neglect of the Bush administration. This has produced a backlog of applications to normalize immigration status, causing delays of up to seven years. Student applications continue to remain at the bottom of a pile on a bureaucrat's desk. Students who have followed the law and are simply waiting for decisions will still be denied educations because they are technically undocumented. Unfair? Yes, we think so.
Amending inequities
It is for these children, and so many more like them, that my Assembly colleague Gordon Johnson and I introduced Assembly bill A-194 in early 2007. It would effectively allow those high school graduates who are undocumented but seeking to enroll in a state college or university to utilize in-state tuition rates if they would swear, in a verifiable affidavit form, to the fact that they were currently trying to legalize their status with the appropriate immigration agency. We hope that this bill will begin to move once the Blue Ribbon Panel's report is released.
There are many who suggest that we should wait for federal action in this area. We should lobby the federal government to pass the American Dream Act. This strategy has become more viable since the Obama administration took office. Still, it is our fervent belief that we, as representatives of the people of New Jersey, have a duty to act here and now, regardless of federal action that may, or may not, come later.
We are aware that there are many in this state and our country who do not believe that in-state tuition for undocumented high school graduates is the right course. America has always had a tension between its immigrant tradition and its nativist tradition, and this latest experience is no different from the others.
Daily, we receive letters, e-mails and calls expressing outrage that we would even consider such a bill. Things are said like, "My great-grandfather came here and he was given nothing," and "We should give what we have to our children and not those people."
Simple reply
Our response is this question: Are we not a more civilized and learned people than those who hung out the signs "No Irish Need Apply" and "Italians Seek Employment Elsewhere"? Or are we basically the same ignorant mass trying to repel immigrants just because they are immigrants?
And, where did yesterday's immigrants go? They became our grandfathers and grandmothers. And so, too, shall today's immigrants and undocumented high school students become the grandmothers and grandfathers of tomorrow, inseparably woven into the fabric of America. So doesn't it make sense to give them a good education?
We hope that readers will join us in supporting A-194 in favor of in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants on their paths to citizenship.
Valerie Vainieri Huttle, a Democrat from Englewood, represents the 37th District in the Assembly.
Are we not a more civilized and learned people than those who hung out the signs "No Irish Need Apply"?
AMONG recommendations of Governor Corzine's Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigration is the controversial idea of allowing undocumented immigrants to receive in-state tuition rates at state colleges.
An undocumented individual who could not produce a Social Security number is now required to pay regular tuition, which in many cases makes attending a state college virtually impossible.
Over the past several years, we have come to know many bright, deserving young people who have had their futures cut short. For example, Angelica, who graduated seventh in her high school class of more than 400 and anticipated going on to a pre-med program in college, now works at a local restaurant, and has tried to take a class per semester to keep her dream of becoming a doctor alive.
There are thousands of children like her across the state, many of whom were brought here at a very young age by their parents. They made no choice of their own to cross a river or overstay a visa; they just wound up here in America, in New Jersey.
Still many more of these high school juniors and seniors are in the limbo of a national immigration policy created by the mismanagement, ineptitude and simple neglect of the Bush administration. This has produced a backlog of applications to normalize immigration status, causing delays of up to seven years. Student applications continue to remain at the bottom of a pile on a bureaucrat's desk. Students who have followed the law and are simply waiting for decisions will still be denied educations because they are technically undocumented. Unfair? Yes, we think so.
Amending inequities
It is for these children, and so many more like them, that my Assembly colleague Gordon Johnson and I introduced Assembly bill A-194 in early 2007. It would effectively allow those high school graduates who are undocumented but seeking to enroll in a state college or university to utilize in-state tuition rates if they would swear, in a verifiable affidavit form, to the fact that they were currently trying to legalize their status with the appropriate immigration agency. We hope that this bill will begin to move once the Blue Ribbon Panel's report is released.
There are many who suggest that we should wait for federal action in this area. We should lobby the federal government to pass the American Dream Act. This strategy has become more viable since the Obama administration took office. Still, it is our fervent belief that we, as representatives of the people of New Jersey, have a duty to act here and now, regardless of federal action that may, or may not, come later.
We are aware that there are many in this state and our country who do not believe that in-state tuition for undocumented high school graduates is the right course. America has always had a tension between its immigrant tradition and its nativist tradition, and this latest experience is no different from the others.
Daily, we receive letters, e-mails and calls expressing outrage that we would even consider such a bill. Things are said like, "My great-grandfather came here and he was given nothing," and "We should give what we have to our children and not those people."
Simple reply
Our response is this question: Are we not a more civilized and learned people than those who hung out the signs "No Irish Need Apply" and "Italians Seek Employment Elsewhere"? Or are we basically the same ignorant mass trying to repel immigrants just because they are immigrants?
And, where did yesterday's immigrants go? They became our grandfathers and grandmothers. And so, too, shall today's immigrants and undocumented high school students become the grandmothers and grandfathers of tomorrow, inseparably woven into the fabric of America. So doesn't it make sense to give them a good education?
We hope that readers will join us in supporting A-194 in favor of in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants on their paths to citizenship.
Valerie Vainieri Huttle, a Democrat from Englewood, represents the 37th District in the Assembly.
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