We Should Invest In Lawbreakers Because We Invested In Lawbreakers?
That seems be Califruitandnut governor Jerry Brown's logic in signing the California Dream Act -- the act that provides financial aid for students who are illegal aliens...because, apparently, we should reward people breaking the law, and because we have an unlimited supply of tax dollars to do it with. From the LA Times:
Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) said he was notified Saturday morning by the governor's aides that Brown has approved the measure, which makes illegal immigrants who are accepted into state universities eligible, starting in 2013, for Cal-Grant assistance.The governor's action also allows those without citizenship papers to tap into institutional grants while attending the University of California and California State University systems, and to get fee waivers in the California community college system.
Cedillo praised Brown as an "incredible leader with the vision and courage'' for signing the bill despite its great controversy.
"After having invested 12 years in the high school education of these young men and women, who are here through no fault of their own, it's the smartest thing for us to do to permit these students to get scholarships and be treated like every other student,'' Cedillo said. "We need an educated workforce. This is good for California's economy and California's future.''
One legislative analysis predicted the bill will cost an additional $40 million to help students who qualify by graduating from a California high school after having attended school in the state for at least three years. They also must show financial need and meet academic standards.
Meanwhile, if you're here legally, as the article references, there are cuts in government services that your tax dollars are paying for.
A comment on the LA Times' site:
Arnold Indictor · Pennsylvania State University What part of illegal don't some people understand? I am liberal but when it comes to illegal immigrants then it is just plain stupid to ignore the fact that they are breaking our laws. There are many people trying to get into this country legally why should illegal immigrants be rewarded in any way?
I'd like to know why an illegal immigrant in California is more deserving than myself? I qualify for absolutely zero financial aide to any four year institution because my husband makes a decent living. I'm tired of people considering college a right that the rest of us must burden. How can we dare to put college for legal citizens, much less illegal citizens, on the backs of so many taxpayers that decided that college was unattainable?
Cat at October 9, 2011 12:10 AM
The answer to your question, Cat, has two parts. First, elections. Hispanics are a rapidly expanding population in the USA and their votes are seen as gold mine for remaining in power. Hispanics, specifically Mexicans, vote Democrat at a 2 to 1 ratio. Democrats know this and will pander to this voting bloc without regard to Americans in general. Second, Anti American sentiment. Many of the "intelligentsia" of colleges/universities see the USA as a racist, homophobic, misogynist, imperialistic institution. And when presented with the possibility to take the resources of the American taxpayer and give it to non American peoples (most especially non anglo people), they see that as mission critical. Most of these same people believe in open borders.
TW at October 9, 2011 1:57 AM
I wouldn't count on hispanics continuing that 2-1 vote pattern if I were running. Those here legally are not necessarily in favor of letting lawbreakers get perks their own kids may not even get.
California is going to be seeing an inrush of illegals-probably a lot of those running from Alabama will show up there. It's not going to simply be the ones already there getting this tuition, they will arrive with younger kids in tow to get this in the future. As anyone with a brain could see-rewarding behavior gets more of it. Giving perks to illegals brings more of them.
momof4 at October 9, 2011 5:49 AM
Unbelievable. I'm a single mother, I make a modest living, and I drive a 10 year old car with 175k miles on it because I made a lot of cuts to my household budget to get my daughter through a top notch private university. The university itself was very generous with the financial aid it gave to my daughter, without it, she wouldn't have been able to go there. I made up most of the difference and she took a few student loans. But she received NOTHING in CalGrants (or Federal grants for that matter), and that was before Brown signed this piece of shit legislation. Now she's interviewing for grad school and with the California Dream Act and the Federal Dream Act both being signed into law, I'm sure there will be even less money available for her to go to school. Guess it's time to find a rich husband...
sara at October 9, 2011 5:55 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/10/09/we_should_inves.html#comment-2563093">comment from saraSame with my sister, sara, who has been a taxpayer for years in this state, and is looking to go to grad school.
Amy Alkon at October 9, 2011 6:06 AM
Maybe someone should clue the NOW gang in to that outcome. Maybe we could foment a little intra-party strife!
brian at October 9, 2011 7:03 AM
M4, the reaction to the Alabama illegals law has been interesting to watch. The leftists of course are having a conniption fit, even though they can't explain what's actually wrong with the law; they just say "Racist! QED." (As Ed Driscoll said the other day: "Social issues invariably shortcut logic, just as they’re designed to do.") However, the illegals have concluded that the jig is up, and they're disappearing fast. Some rural schools in north Alabama have seen 20% of their enrollment disappear.
Some of the farmers are whining that they can't find workers to help bring in their crops. But, sne of the chicken processing plants (which are notorious for hiring illegals) had most of their staff disappear, so they had a job fair. The leftists, of course, said that no one would be interested because "those are jobs Americans won't do". Guess what? They got hundreds of applications and are now hiring citizens and legal residents. They interviewed a few of the new hires on the local news here. Some of them have been out of work for a long time.
Cousin Dave at October 9, 2011 8:02 AM
Of course, NPR is portraying the situation in Alabama as a horrible thing, interviewing a tomato farmer who can't get his tomatoes picked.
The first thing I thought was, "He knows he was hiring illegals, and now he wants sympathy?"
They were not "doing the jobs Americans just won't do". They were doing jobs not advertised to lawful Americans.
But take the lesson from California about being totally surprised when people rush to do more of an encouraged activity. You can apply the same principle to drug trafficking and use.
Have a bleeding heart, fan of NPR? Then ask yourself why a hungry American in Alabama is worth less of your attention than anyone from Mexico. And then ask yourself just why you tolerate growers like the guy in your interview paying less than minimum wage and no taxes while you roast McDonald's for not treating its people like royalty!
Isn't it strange? For lots of people, having brown people in the fields for little pay is just dandy!
Now, wait 'til they notice that minimum wage laws mean that the price of labor in agriculture is going to double!
Radwaste at October 9, 2011 8:55 AM
When I googled for the ten American cities with the highest unemployment rates, I came up with:
1) El Centro CA 32.4 %
2) Yuma AZ 29.4 %
3) Merced CA 17.5 %
4) Yuba City CA 17.0 %
5) Stockton CA 16.1 %
6) Modesto CA 16.0 %
7) Fresno CA 15.8 %
8) Visalia-Porterville CA 15.7 %
9) Hanford-Corcoran CA 15.3 %
10) Palm Coast FL 14.9 %
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/09/29/cities-with-the-highest-lowest-unemployment-rates/
Note that 8 out of 10 are in California, and swarming with illegals. Is Governor Moonbeam unaware of this situation?
Martin at October 9, 2011 10:01 AM
Umm, Palm Coast, FL? Hardly a hellhole, even though housing destroyed a bunch of estuarine habitat. Check it out here, and click the link to look at it via Google Earth.
How is Detroit not on that list?
Radwaste at October 9, 2011 2:20 PM
Here's the original source for that data - Civilian labor force and unemployment by state and metropolitan area:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.t01.htm
Detroit is disguised by being lumped together with all its suburbs as the Detroit-Warren-Livonia metropolitan area. I don't have an explanation for Palm Coast. There's no getting around the scale of the problem in California's Central Valley.
Martin at October 9, 2011 4:57 PM
And what would the governor say to a woman I know, a single mom who can't attend the local community college because ten illegals are using her identity?
I sent the governor an e-mail explaining why I am against rewarding illegals. I clicked the box on his website that says I would like a reply; I'm still waiting for that reply.
Tom at October 9, 2011 6:19 PM
Can anyone confirm or deny this? On the radio the news (not a commentator) said the dream act allowed for them to receive privately funded scholarships and it sounded like not publicly funded ones. Other reports have I heard had not said anything to specify so I assume they could get any scholarship.
I had to pay for Graduate degree completely on my own so I am rather annoyed when they start giving away money even though it was not in CA. Actually it something to do with the program I was in-- it was specifically set up as a non-state supported program. I could of course gotten a private scholarship had I managed to win one.
The Former Banker at October 9, 2011 9:32 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/10/09/we_should_inves.html#comment-2567948">comment from The Former BankerIf you're here illegally, you shouldn't be here at all -- to get ANY scholarships.
Amy Alkon at October 9, 2011 10:15 PM
I agree the individuals here illegally should not be allowed to be here.
I am much more OK with private funds giving them money as opposed to tax dollars.
The Former Banker at October 9, 2011 11:27 PM
Former Banker...why are you ok with that? It's not as though they can work in the US legally once they receive a degree...taxpayer funded or privately funded. Do you understand that for every illegal immigrant that is given a spot in college, that it's one less spot for a US citizen? My daughter's friends are in state schools, it's going to take them a minimum of 5 years to complete their undergrad degrees because the programs are so impacted. While not entirely the fauly of illegal immigrant students, the fact is, an illegal immigrant should not be allowed to occupy one single solitary seat in a state funded school. IMO that's the reason state school tuitions have gotten so out-of-hand in California, the system cannot handle the extra strain the illegal immigrant students are putting on the education system here...from kindergarten through college. The reason my daughter was able to complete her degree in 3.5 years is because she was able to get all of her classes when she needed to take them.
sara at October 10, 2011 10:24 AM
A good percentage of privately funded scholarships are money provided by an individual or corporations. They should have full control on who they pick for their scholarship winner. (Although, why would you donate money to a known illegal if they risked deportation and the loss of the money that had been provided for his education? Why would a corporation want to spend their profits on an individual who would not be likely to join the workforce?)
However, I can not think of any reason my taxpayer dollars should go to an illegal immigrants' education.
Cat at October 10, 2011 1:36 PM
Cat...I still go back to my point that the illegal immigrant student should NOT be allowed into college in the first place. Every seat in every class that an illegal immigrant student occupies, is one less that a US student can occupy. However, given the fact that they are already here and taking up a spot, WHY should they have the added benefit of paying In-State tuition? A foreign student coming from anywhere else in the world would have to pay the higher tuition rate. So basically, in California at least, we taxpayers are getting doubly screwed.
By the way, right now my current path has me moving to Arizona by the end of next year. Not saying it's a perfect solution, but I'm getting killed in taxes in CA.
sara at October 10, 2011 3:42 PM
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