UPDATE 04/26/2012 The Delaware nightmare is over the Dream Act failed to get support Written by Wade Malcolm The News Journal
A bill that would have given in-state tuition and scholarships to undocumented immigrants does not have enough support to move out of committee, meaning the proposal is effectively dead.
Dream Act hearing gets mixed reaction; State’s version of controversial tuition bill fosters debate about illegal immigrants
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Robert I. Marshall, said he hopes it will be passed by a vote in the full Senate, despite some vocal outcries against it.
“I’m very well aware this is not a popular bill,” said Marshall, D-Wilmington West. “My office has gotten a lot of calls.”
Advocates of the bill say undocumented students who were brought here as children and graduate from a Delaware high school deserve the same in-state tuition as other state residents. Opponents say giving those benefits to people here illegally is unfair to out-of-state students, who are American citizens and in some cases pay more than twice as much to attend one of Delaware’s three public institutions of higher education
Damn right, why exclude out-of-state Americans and make then second-class citizens?
No one from the University of Delaware, Delaware State University or Delaware Technical Community College — the institutions the bill would affect — addressed the committee.
That way, when it goes all wrong they can say it was beyond our control.
Maria Matos, executive director of the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington, said she feels most undocumented college students essentially are Americans already. They came to this country as children and attended school here most of their lives, she said
And there you have it, “she feels most undocumented college students essentially are Americans already.” Next thing you know Marshall will support a national call for giving illegals Social Security and the right to vote!
God bless those who come to American for a better life but please use the front door.
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I love the line about how it’s not popular…well aren’t they elected to maintain what the popular majority of the citizens want or don’t want? Oh yea, forgot that’s fantasy land.
“God bless those who come to American for a better life but please use the front door.”- Amen!!!
So we’re just discovering there are children of illegals in the state? If not, why are they being allowed to tax the Dwlaware public school system? Hey Citizen, what if one of these kids had a NCS seat or a CSW seat? Why stop there, good day care spots are scarce as well. I’m obviously being sarcastic, but here’s my point: why treat these kids the same as all Delaware kids UNTIL they get to college? What is the relevance of out of state kids whose parents don’t pay DE state tax when these illegals may pay DE state taxes? College seems a pretty arbitrary point to get religion about this is all I’m saying.
Patriot – are the illegal immigrants paying state and federal taxes? Or are they working for a lower wage that is untaxed? How are they paying taxes? What is their tax identification number?
Also, generally speaking, at what age can you become a US citizen?
Kilroy, you and I are old enough to remember that burning the American flag is an act of expression to illustrate one’s belief that America has abandoned its ideals and is committing a serious moral lapse. So yes, the tuition bill not only makes that statement, it corrects the lapse.
By the way I agree with you about using the front door. I’d like to see employers aggressively held accountable until the availability of illegal jobs is eliminated.
But we have allowed so many in the back door with a wink and a nod, that now we have a mess on our hands. We have sent illegal immigrants mixed messages – ” Yes it’s illegal, but come on in, we have work for you.” And we have done this for so long, I think there is a legitimate argument they have squatters’ rights to residency, or at least certain rights of residency.
And certainly the children should have all rights to educational benefits. Lord knows they come from a culture of hard work and will probably do better in college than the rest of our children.
Unfortunately the front door is closed.
@ Arthur – don’t know the answer to that question, that’s why I said they “may” pay taxes. Either way, I don’t follow the argument that says these kids are the same as any other kid in our state’s education system until they get to college. At that point they should be treated differently. Why?
Does this Dream Act bill cover anything besides college in-state tuition for these children?
A friend of my son was brought here by his mother when he was about 6 years old – he is now 20. He went through our Delaware school system – which isn’t saying much for our school system – the young man still speaks broken English so I’m not sure how he graduated but that’s beside the point.
I was curious about how he could become a legal citizen because if he ever were to be deported where would he go? His immediate family is here in Delaware. He would be sent back to Mexico to, I assume, live with “family” he doesn’t really know and in a country that is now foreign to him. What I found is that there is not a path to citizenship for this young man. He is caught in immigration limbo. He doesn’t fit into any category or meet the requirements for any path to legalization. He’s stuck. Can’t even get a driver’s license (legally).
I think this is where we need to focus our attention and then visit concerns about college tuition.
I never cease to be amazed at the number of folks willing to utterly ignore what their mothers told them about two wrongs not making a right (“we” (not me) “let” (let?) them in, so let’s educate them, safety net them, give them something American residents can’t have, etc., ad nauseum). Wait, maybe I unwittingly broke the code … if two wrongs don’t make a right, then maybe three will, if not, maybe four will … and if not, well, America is a rotten place populated by creeps like you — take that! And you’re a raaaaaaaaaacist!
Right Miro? Right Marshall?
PS: Kudos to Patriot for pointing to (one of) the 800 pound gorilla(s) in the room — what about the 18 years prior indeed?? The costs to American society, measurable and non, by the time college age arrives, are greater by far than the giveaway the miserable panderers in Dover are now trying to take from us. Patriot, sir, I suggest that the difference is that the aforementioned panderers have already stolen enough from the taxpaying citizenry to cover the first 18 years, and for adulthood, and that through an oversight, this 4 year period was found wanting.
DREAM ACT woke up! And dream on to another state willing to underwrite the privilege of a college education! Good on you Dover–not signing this out of committee.
Whether illegal immigrants are good or bad forvthe economy is far from a settled issue. Let’s not pretend like it is. http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/debate/index.asp?article=d090108
…some of the hardest working students in our schools. Just sayin’…
Joe, Are you a teacher? how do you know who they are?
As usual, the debate about the DREAM Act produced a lot of heat and very little light. Here is some common sense on the DREAM Act.
From Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, presidential candidate:
“When a kid comes to his country, and he’s four years old and he had no choice in it – his parents came illegally. He still, because he is in this state, it’s the state’s responsibility – in fact, it is the state’s legal mandate – to make sure that child is in school. So let’s say that kid goes to school. That kid is in our school from kindergarten through the 12th grade. He graduates as valedictorian because he’s a smart kid and he works his rear end off and he becomes the valedictorian of the school. The question is: Is he better off going to college and becoming a neurosurgeon or a banker or whatever he might become, and becoming a taxpayer, and in the process having to apply for and achieve citizenship, or should we make him pick tomatoes? I think it’s better if he goes to college and becomes a citizen.”
From David Chu, Undersecretary of Defense:
“If their parents are undocumented or in immigration limbo, most of these young people have no mechanism to obtain legal residency even if they have lived most of their lives here. Yet many of these young people may wish to join the military, and have the attributes needed – education, aptitude, fitness, and moral qualifications.”
Conservative military scholar Max Boot:
“It’s a substantial pool of people and I think it’s crazy we are not tapping into it.” The DREAM Act “would not only offer a welcome path toward citizenship for many promising young people but also might ease some of the recruitment problems that Army has been facing of late.”
From Colin Powell:
“Immigrants are fueling this country. Without immigrants America would be like Europe or Japan with an aging population and no young people to come in and take care of it. We have to educate our immigrants. The DREAM Act is one way we can do this.”
Arthur, regarding undocumented immigrants and taxes, even undocumented immigrants pay income taxes, as evidenced by the Social Security Administration’s “suspense file” (taxes that cannot be matched to workers’ names and social security numbers), which grew $20 billion in the last ten years (CATO Institute and Social Security Administration).
It’s fairly easy for someone to get a forged ID and Social Security card. That’s how undocumented workers pay taxes.
I can’t say that all undocumented workers pay taxes, but then again, I thought I heard Mitt Romney say recently that only about half of all US citizens pay taxes.
If you really want to see the US economy tank, round up all of the undocumented workers and send them over the borders. Over half of the crop pickers in the United States are undocumented workers. Do you see a lot of United States citizens complaining because they can’t get jobs as crop pickers? The underground service economy depends on undocumented workers, and lots of people rely on the underground service economy to keep wages and prices low. In about three years you’ll start to hear the wailing from Arizonans when the cost of construction labor goes through the roof because there won’t be any undocumented workers left in that state. A lot of people are happy to pay under-the-table wages to have their lawns taken care of, their houses built, or their restaurant food prepared, and at the same time are happy to pound their chests about illegal immigration. It’s the kind of hypocrisy that has become the hallmark of politics in the United States, and that seems to be flourishing in Dover, as well.