Immigrants’ tuition stirs debate
In a time of ever-increasing college tuition costs, state lawmakers will debate — once again — whether Connecticut residents who are undocumented immigrants should be allowed to pay the same reduced in-state tuition as other residents.
Last year, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a measure calling for such an expansion of the in-state cost after the bill passed the legislature with no Republican support. She said at the time that, despite feeling sympathetic to the cause, she felt compelled to oppose the bill because the immigrants who it would have benefited were in the country...
LEGAL immigrants have a right to pursue higher education....this bill is meant only to those who are here illegally either because they crossed the border or overstayed their visas. Providing in-state tuition discounts to illegal aliens places them in a BETTER position than those foreign nationals who played by the rules and obtained a student visa to study here. THat is fundamentally unfair...a reward to families that violated our laws and are out of status while those that have complied with our laws before they even set foot in this country have to pay a higher price. Shameful.
To Alum, your open borders agenda ensures that there will be two classes of citizens, extremely wealthy ones like yourselves, and a large class of extremely poor citizens who are discriminated against in the workplace, the public education system their children depend upon will be underfunded and substandard, homelessness, slave wages, and no hope or future. While those of you at the top squeeze ever more blood money profits for yourselves through low wage illegal aliens. BTW, illegal aliens are NOT citizens, nor are their children.
You can not pretend that there aren't poor citizens who are desperate to do the jobs they always have. You have a problem with American wage standards, and want citizens discriminated against because you consider them somehow uppity because they expect to be paid a wage that allows them to keep a roof over their heads and not be abused in the workplace.
There are limited slots in our colleges and universities, there are too few available slots for the children of poor and middle class citizens. There aren't available openings for illegal aliens. You do not have the right to push less affluent citizens out of higher education, get over it.
Dear Alum, where do I sign up for a free Yale education. Or does this only work for you if those lowly public schools are swamped? And don't forget to send that check to pay for it.
The one case regarding state laws providing in-state tuition that you term "unsuccessful" was not unsuccessful because of the law but because the judge determined that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case. So, the legality of these in-state laws is still untested.
Furthermore, you might note that Michigan's attorney general recently denied driver's licenses to illegal aliens because, in his opinion, they cannot be legal residents of the State if they're not legal residents of the United States. The same reasoning could be applied to the claim that illegal aliens students are "state residents". No matter how long they live here, they can't be legal residents of the State if they're not legal residents of the US.
Hey, make sure those who have never been given premission to even be in this nation get everything longtime taxpaying citizen and legal resident students get. Huh!
Hey, all you left wing loons, choose another state to live in and take the 20 million aliens with you.
Immigrants MUST have access to affordable education. I do not want to see two classes of citizens in our state.