Gov. Jon Corzine’s “blue ribbon panel” has just published a report urging, among other things, in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.
You know what? As a the spouse of a LEGAL immigrant, I can’t help but feel this is a slap in the face for everyone who did it the right way. The application fees, the waiting, the full-on questioning that accompanied just the temporary work visa and social security number. It was all apparently worthless, because we could have just sat on our asses waiting, and then been eligible to use a taxpayer-offset rate to attend university.
I especially enjoy how they say we shouldn’t blame the children of these “undocumented aliens” for making “tough decisions” on behalf of their families. That’s straight CRAP. You know what, the “tough decision” meant knowingly circumventing the laws and working illegally without paying taxes? Well then, as a taxpayer, I’d like to ask you to start giving up at least 28% of your wages immediately. Oh, can’t afford it because you make so little? There’s always going back home.
And this disorganized rant is brought to you by the little bit of vomit in my mouth I just had when I read the article.
Its moronic to assume illegal aliens are simply doing it the “wrong way”. You should consider yourself incredibly be lucky that your spouse had the option of coming to this country legally, for most people this is simply not an option. Don’t you dare compare a fucking application fee to risking your life in order to give your family a better life, you have no fucking clue what you are talking about.
My take on illegal immigrants is that politicians and government quietly don’t want to do a thing about it. The solution, if they want it, is simple: deny them the things they are coming for; work, shelter, health care.
Massive fines/jail for those employing illegals. Massive fines/jail for those renting to illegals. Those receiving medical attention could get it but would be immediately reported and deported. If you’re a hospital that treated an illegal and didn’t report it- massive fines/jail.
But none of this will happen because nobody really wants to do anything about it.
Which makes walls and border patrol a big joke.
It would be the same as having maximum security prisons here with guards and fences but if you manage to somehow escape you’re free to get a job, apartment, treatment for you bullet wounds, and nobody will do anything about it.
My point is personally I don’t care if they’re here or not. But I get irritated by lawmakers gesturing that they’re “doing something” with walls/fences/guns when a much easier solution exsists.
On the other hand, the OP’s wife probably doesn’t have to worry every time she commits a traffic violation that it will end up with her being forcefully deported.
This is 100% truth, if we didn’t want illegals here they wouldn’t be here, its as simple as that. I know entire families and in some cases entire neighborhoods who are just packing up and leaving florida because the housing market collapse killed all the roofing/construction/landscaping jobs, no jobs = no illegals. I know of at least three hispanic food stores closing down because all their clientele left, i don’t know where the hell im going to get my peruvian candy now.
Don’t you dare imply that “risking your life in order to give your family a better life” is the common plight of most, even the majority, of illegal aliens. Ducking under the border fence or overstaying a student or tourist visa aren’t necessarily life-threatening. Abandoning the babymamma and the kids and sending whatever money is left after drinking doesn’t necessarily count as making a better life.
There are saints and sinners in all groups, illegal imigrants included, but to paint them all as “risking their lives in order to give their family a better life” is just ignorant. You, I suspect, “have no fucking clue what you are talking about”.
Right, but why should the state then give benefits to those people? If they’re not legally allowed to be in the country, shouldn’t the only thing the country be doing for them is sending them back to the country they’re legal residents of?
Whatever it is they go through and continue to put up with is still a lot harder than what legal immigrants do, implying that somehow illegal aliens have it easier because they didn’t have to jump through the same legal hoops as legal aliens is no less moronic just because not everyone risks their lives crossing the border. Its not like people have a fucking choice of migrating here legally and chose to do it the hard way for the fucking hell of it.
My only beef is with the assumption that coming here illegal is somehow easier and illegal aliens chose to do it that way rather than patiently wait in line and pay their fees like legal aliens do. Thats whats moronic about the OP, the fact that she thinks other people had the same options her spouse did to come to this country but they chose to be illegal aliens instead.
As for your opinion on the subject of illegal aliens, well if the country wanted them gone they would be gone. The fact that they are still here should tell you that the country is not entirely sure that they want them gone.
No, the vast, vast, overwhelming majority of illegal aliens in the U.S. do have the option of doing it legally. The fact that doing it legally takes a long time and lots of hoops to jump through, as the OP noted, doesn’t mean it isn’t an option.
This is the part of the equation that has always struck me, and it makes very clear that no-one is really very interested in solving the problem. For the most part, the only action taken in such cases has been against the illegals themselves. If a company is found to be employing illegals, all the illegals get rounded up an deported, while the company gets a slap on the wrist before going out to find another bunch of illegals to employ.
We can’t do anything about the “push” factors that lead people to leave countries like Mexico, but we can do something about the “pull” factors, the jobs and the other stuff they get when they arrive in the United States. The fact that we’ve done little to address those “pull” factors suggests that we don’t really want the problem solved, and that the draconian deportation measures we take against the illegals themselves are just a sop to the xenophobes, something that gives the appearance of toughness while not actually changing the situation at all.
There’s no “the country”. Hispanics tend to want them here, and they have a lot of otherwise-uncommited voters in key states. And a lot of business people want them here as well, so they can save Big Bucks on the backs of other people.
Leaving aside the morality of illegal immigration, in this case the people being punished by the lack of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants are kids. They didn’t overstay a visa or decide to cross a border on their own - their parents made the decision for them. A lot of these kids have spent the majority of their lives in the US and have gone to school here and would like to go on to higher education and are finding themselves shut out of the system.
A white paper published by an immigrant advocacy group is hardly convincing. Besides, that paper does support my position, but not yours. Thanks. Did you read it? It details the legal ways to immigrate.
What it also does is argue that there aren’t enough “legal” slots to satisfy all the people who actually want to come here. That’s a whole different argument.
I actually have a lot of sympathy for the parents, let alone the kids. Quite frankly, if I was living in dirt poverty in Mexico and could make a better life by sneaking across the border I might well do it myself.
But sympathy doesn’t translate into forcibly taking money from other people and giving it to them.
Or even to allowing unlimited immigration. Fact is that there’s a limited amount of resources in this country (or any country). It’s nice to share some, but not to share an unlimited amount of it.
Why is that? It seems like the same argument to me. As a practical matter, the vast majority of these people could not legally immigrate, for whatever reason.