Monday, March 30, 2009

Bienvenido... Corzine's Cheesy Illegal Alien Panel


Englewood's mayor, Michael Wildes, whose family made its fortune in immigration law, was on Governor Corzine's panel on immigrant policy. The panel came out with a report today suggesting far-ranging benefits to the legal and illegal aliens in our midst. The panel did not differentiate between legal and illegal aliens.
Wildes status as an immigration lawyer as well as Englewood mayor is not mentioned in either the Star-Ledger or the Record.
Wildes' most moronic quote is this: "America cannot just stand by and do nothing about its undocumented population while Congress fails to address it. Gov. Corzine understands this, and he wanted us to study how to integrate, not segregate, immigrants. There are not enough handcuffs to arrest and deport every undocumented immigrant."
Too many criminals? Let them go.
If bank robbery becomes endemic among the local population, maybe Wildes will suggest we let all the bank robbers go free as well.
Naturally, the panel made suggestions that would make the average tax paying citizen sick. The Star-Ledger estimates that there are 400,000 illegal aliens in our state. The Record estimates the total at 500,000
Firstly, they recommend giving in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens who want to attend state colleges. How much sense does that make? An illegal alien can attend Rutgers at the same tuition as a lifelong state resident, but if God forbid some kid from a legal, tax paying family in New York wants to go to Rutgers, she'd have to shell out a higher rate than the criminal illegal alien. In-state tuition is about $11,000. Out-of-staters pay about twice that.
Another part of the report, that hits closer to home, asks local school districts not to ask for parents' social security cards when registering their kids at public schools. So now, we're being asked to subsidize illegal aliens in our schools, which in Teaneck will cost you $18,000+ per year, per kid.
The ridiculous suggestions also include a moratorium on ICE raids on illegal aliens and issuing some form of driver's licenses to the illegals.
Many people will tell me the Torah says to be kind to the alien because we were aliens in Egypt. That's true. We were also slaves in Egypt. Let me have a Mexican slave and I'll be glad to let his kid go to public school on the town's dime.

6 comments:

esther said...

So now you want a slave?

Yeshiva Dad said...

You can also have blood, frogs, locust, pestilence...

Anonymous said...

Out of Rightfield found yourself a slave yet?

Out Of Rightfield said...

April 20, 2009
In New Jersey, Bills Offering In-State Tuition to Illegal Immigrants Face a Fight

By KIRK SEMPLE
Champions of a proposal to allow illegal immigrants in New Jersey to pay in-state college tuition could be forgiven for believing, after years of frustration and defeat, that their cause may finally have momentum.

A blue-ribbon panel convened by Gov. Jon S. Corzine to study immigration matters unanimously supported the proposal in a report issued last month, and the governor has also endorsed the idea. Meanwhile, a new, more liberal wind blows in Washington.

But even the most hopeful immigrant advocates in New Jersey concede that these developments may not be enough to push the proposal, which is outlined in several bills, through the State Legislature, particularly during a recession and in a year in which the governor and the entire Assembly faces re-election.

Choosing his words carefully, Shai Goldstein, executive director of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, said, “We’re cautiously optimistic.” He paused, then added: “There’s been pushback on this.”

The bills, versions of which have languished for years in the Legislature, would allow an illegal immigrant who had attended a New Jersey high school for at least three years and graduated to be eligible for in-state tuition at a publicly supported college or university. (College tuitions and fees paid by out-of-state students are on average more than 90 percent higher than those for New Jersey residents, the panel said.)

Illegal immigrants, advocates argue, should not be penalized for their parents’ actions. Also, they say, allowing students access higher education will encourage more immigrants to excel in high school, multiplying the state’s intellectual capital and empowering its work force.

“Maintaining a well-educated work force is integral to New Jersey’s economic vitality as demand for high-skilled labor begins to outpace supply,” the immigration panel’s report said.

Ten other states, including New York, have granted in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. Of the six states with the largest foreign-born populations, only New Jersey and Florida have not passed legislation providing the benefit. Similar measures were defeated in recent weeks in Colorado and Arkansas.

By some estimates, according to the immigration panel’s report, there are about 28,000 illegal immigrants enrolled in New Jersey’s high schools. Ronald K. Chen, New Jersey’s public advocate and the panel’s chairman, said it was hard to calculate how many students each year might take advantage of the in-state tuition, but he said they might number in “the very low four figures.”

Marisol Conde-Hernandez, 22, is the kind of New Jersey resident the legislation is designed to help. She was born in Puebla, Mexico, and was brought to the United States by her mother when she was 18 months old.

Ms. Conde-Hernandez excelled in school, graduating from South Brunswick High School with a 3.5 grade-point average and a résumé filled with extracurricular activities, even while she was working full time to help support her family. She enrolled at Middlesex County College and then at Rutgers University, where she is a junior majoring in sociology.

Since she is not a legal resident, she pays full tuition and fees at Rutgers, and works full time as a waitress to cover what she expects will total more than $20,000 for two years’ worth of credits.

She has become politically active, joining the lobby for immigration reform and pushing for the passage of the in-state tuition bills. She decided to speak publicly, in spite of her family’s illegal status, in order to help future students and ensure “that their dreams don’t get completely crushed,” she said.

Immigrant advocates say Ms. Conde-Hernandez is a rare exception. When faced with few prospects for affordable higher education, they say, most illegal immigrants underperform in high school or drop out.

Opponents say that the measures could result in illegal immigrants taking college slots from legal residents and would cost the state money that could otherwise be used to benefit citizens.

Christopher J. Christie, the leading Republican challenger to Governor Corzine in this year’s election, called the governor’s support of the measures “astonishing.”

“We need to focus our efforts on providing tax relief for middle-class New Jerseyans,” he said in a statement.

The bills’ supporters acknowledge that this may not be the most opportune political climate in which to push for passage. Anti-immigrant sentiment is high, they say, particularly during a recession that has made many Americans even less tolerant about providing jobs and public education for illegal immigrants.

Moreover, Governor Corzine faces a tough re-election battle, and few think he will expend much political capital on the proposal. Democratic assemblymen may also shy away from the issue to help shore up support among more conservative voters.

Indeed, some legislative offices have been swamped by e-mail messages and phone calls railing against the proposal.

“It’s dead; it’s going nowhere,” declared William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, a North Carolina-based organization that opposes benefits for illegal immigrants and has been lobbying against in-state tuition measures around the country.

But immigrant advocates in New Jersey say they are going to press hard for passage of the bills. “People demagogue this for ideological reasons,” said Mr. Goldstein of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network. “We’re talking about simple fairness.”

Shimon said...

Your comment that allowing children of illegal aliens attend local public schools amounts to "subsidizing" their education is way off base on a couple of levels:
1) Most of those children are born here and as such are citizens and should have any rights or obligations that any other citizen has. According to a Pew Hispanic Center study, nearly 4 million of these estimated 5.5 million "illegal alien" children are in fact native born (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/14/citizen.children/index.html);
2) Illegal aliens pay property tax either indirectly, in the form of rent to their landlords who pay property tax on their no-vacancy, appreciating apartment complex, or directly if they own their home.

If your argument against immigration is based on economics, it is wrong, as numerous studies have shown that immigrants legal or not, are a net positive to our economy, dating back to Eleanor Roosevelt's commission on immigrants' net cost, and contribution to this country.

Your slave comment suggests either that your true motives are not necessarily as logical and straightforward as you profess, or that you have a distasteful sense of humor.

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