Just off the top of my head thought….

Should the law be changed? That is, should proof of legal status (citizen, permanent resident alien, child of H-series visa, etc.) be required before being allowed to enroll at a public school?

The unintended consequence is that we now are educating, and at great cost, the children of millions of non-citizen, non-tax-payers, who are here illegally. Securing the border and controlling the flood of illegal entries would go a long way to prevent the huge numbers of non-English speaking children in our public schools.

These children are not the perpetrators of the crime and do not deserve to be treated as criminals, lepers in a world they did not choose. Stepping in and preventing the ability of the parent to make the choice to enter illegally, putting the child in the precarious situation of being an illegal with no rights but very Americanized and expectant of all that goes with it, is our responsibility. If we do nothing we are complicit.

I appreciate your comments on the subject of university education. What about high school-aged kids brought here as babies? Should we educate those kids in public schools? If so, why? If not, why not?

az gnat,

You write, “I would be happy to discuss a reasonable approach after the border is secure.”

Is that to say that you prefer to maintain the status quo on the subject of babies/kids brought to this country illegally until after the border is secure?

I’m not trying to be snarky or put words in your mouth, I just want to make sure I understand.

Second, in your mind, what constitutes the border being secure?

My next comment will get me flamed and probably banned from this board, but here goes: I liked Jim Kolbe.

On the subject of dealing with internal immigration enforcement and border security he said of the security first argument, “But that’s like saying– you know, ‘I’ll be for drug rehabilitation after we stop the sale of drugs.’”

Can we deal with the subject of illegal alien children who grew up here while simultaneously dealing with border security?

(Please don’t be distracted by the Kolbe quote. I know 99% of the people on here don’t like the guy. My questions still stand.)

No disagreement here; any guest worker program would have to be very structured to avoid chain migration and family unification. The benefit would be the job not a pathway to citizenship. Their children should not be citizenship bound based on birth or any other method beyond the apply, wait your turn and quota allocation.

We must get a handle on this. All of the divisions that have done nothing but prevent progress of any kind have in effect represented a default plan, one of no plan.

Secure the borders; set up a strictly enforced and structured guest worker program without benefit of citizenship to the worker or family, go after the cash based businesses and employers that cater to Spanish speaking residents and shut down the ID theft underbelly that develops documents for illegals in order to gain employment, buy houses, and fake citizenship.

But, if there is a talented and capable youngster who can and would benefit themselves and their community through university level education; developing a pay back program in exchange for private scholarship money does not sound like a bad idea for anyone.

On the contrary, I think this has been a very civil conversation about a difficult subject. It is sad that these children grow up between two nations but not fully belonging to either. The fact is that millions of sad things happen every year in the U.S., to citizens and non-citizens alike. It is reasonable to have a discussion as to how much of the problem the federal government will or will not be responsible for making better. I tend toward less government intervention and enforcement of current law. That does not mean that I do not find the situation compelling, I just don’t like the way those in Washington keep writing the bills to address the situation.

Your question is a good one, what to do with the people brought here during their youth. I would be happy to discuss a reasonable approach after the border is secure. Until the border is secure people will keep entering the U.S. illegally and the same problem will still be with us. Even a “guest worker” program will not stop everyone from coming. Some people will still risk everything for a chance at getting to the U.S. It is reasonable for a nation to regulate who enters the country or else there is no point in even having a border.

Let’s get real here. Illegal immigration is a major and extremely costly problem.
Our medical, educational and crinial justice system is buckling under the enormous weight.

The 12 million figure we hear has been used for the past decade. Reasonable estimates are now between 20-30 million illegals in this country–sending remittances back to Mexico in the amount of approximately 20 BILLION DOLLARS a year. Those remittancces are, next to petroleum, the second largest income source the nation of Mexico has. This is a nation rich in resources. Three borders of the country are coastlines, boasting tourist havens, agriculture is plentiful, they have petoleum and vast reserves of silver and mercury, fishing etc. They also have a corrupt government and a thriving drug industry with Anerica as the targeted chief export.

This is the first immigrant group that marches through American streets making demands and shouting that the entire Southwest belongs to them and will be reclaimed. How many other immigrant communities marched throughout the country waving the flags of the homeland willingly left?

Illegals need to go back or stay home and build their own country with their labors and by electing honest leaders. Mexico has to keep its young, strong people at home to effect such change.

If we, as a country, decided that to bring some great minds to the US for improvement of the lives of Americans we offered scholarships with payback obligations, WONDERFUL.

But… to use tax dollars to pay for the college scholarship of children of those who have broken our laws, accepted benefits to which they had no right, and then basically grant amnesty to the parents and a number of other relatives just isn’t the same thing.

Now… if we had a legitimate guest worker program and the children of those people, while they are legally employed, promised to serve public service in exchange for in-state tuition and rights to scholarships, etc. with no guarantees of citizenship, I would be OK with that. The education is the benefit they have received they must pay it back. Then if they apply thru legal methods for citizenship, again WONDERFUL. Or, they may choose to go back to their native country and take with them the wonderful things they learned in American and make changes for the good!

Iris Lynch’s response is case in point. That’s not a serious response to a serious questions.

So my question still stands: What do we do with folks who were brought to this country illegally as babies?

People should pay their way, and as I understand the DREAM act, these kids would have to commit to two years of public service – in the military or some other forum.

If one of my children desired to attend college in another state, they would not get in-state tuition. It would be a choice we would have to make. So should they.

Community college, a job maybe…work your way through. Enough already at the expense of taxpayers who have subsidized years of public education in K-12.