Something Just Does Not Seem Right

My parents were both immigrants. My mother was a refugee who learned and embraced a new culture and language and became an American citizen. My father did the same. So I understand the challenges of breaking through barriers cultural, religious and otherwise to be considered a American citizen. This was done in a time that was often considered even less hospitable and kind to immigrants than what is faced today. It is only recently that political correctness became part of the American lexicon.

But there something that really bothers me that is coming from both the right and the left. While it cannot yet be called a trend, the two cases illustrated in the following paragraphs really are troubling.

This concerns illegal immigrants and illegal immigration. This is not a case of racism but one of survival for the middle class. I will begin by saying that we need immigrants legal and otherwise in this country. "Otherwise" meaning that we should have a formal guest worker program but do not. The only program I agreed with proposed by G.W. Bush in his eight years was a guest worker program that was dismissed by his own party. As a result we have a very weak immigration and immigration enforcement policy here. Though we are 250 years away from our country's founding, the US was and to a large extent is a nation of immigrants.

But there are cases today where business owners, farmers for example who say that they are having to let crops rot because they cannot get anyone to pick them. Americans do not want those jobs (perhaps another column sometime) and illegal immigrants are now too afraid to come to this country or apply for those jobs because they do not want to be harassed or deported. Arizona and Alabama are two states that have taken it upon themselves to write immigration policy that restricts illegal immigration beyond that of national guidelines and in large part will hurt their economies.

It is a huge failing of this country and a national disgrace that our national legislative body does not produce legislation to address the obvious needs of business owners who have relied on illegal immigration to support their businesses. It is naive, by the way, to think that this work would be done by Americans. This type of work has not been done by American workers for years. The prices for fresh fruit and hotel rooms just to name a few of the goods and services reliant on illegal labor would skyrocket if we paid Americans to complete the tasks required.

But here is where I have a huge problem. Note that I have not called these people "undocumented." They are not undocumented. They are illegal. No temporary work permit or citizenship, then you are an illegal alien. I would like to consider myself an open minded citizen of the world, but that is not the way the world works. If I go to Germany or Mexico or Japan I am a guest. That means I stay for a defined period whether I am working or vacationing there. They do not welcome you in as a citizen of the world and allow you to receive publicly funded health insurance, apply for work or get an education that citizens of their country are entitled to.

Two examples are what have me thinking: Just this week Jerry Brown, a democrat and Governor of California signed a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to accept private scholarship money for a college education. The hope here is this will lead to a second step which will allow those same illegal immigrants to receive public money and grants for a college education. The second example is claim by Rick Perry, republican Governor of Texas that he proud to extend in-state status to illegal immigrants who are accepted to public Texas state universities. He made no apologies for extending this benefit to illegal immigrants at a recent republican debate.

Would I be against these example in either case if there were unlimited funds or unlimited slots for college? No. But the reality is that there is just so much money and so many available seats in today's colleges and universities. Who does this hurt the most? The middle class who is already under siege as a group.

Private and public funds are limited. If you make $90,000, firmly middle class, and have two children to send to college you are already under water. As a bread winner you are too wealthy to receive grants and loan options are limited. If your child is not an overachiever who will be receiving scholarships, good luck. The only way to attend post high school education is to borrow, go to a community college or go without. Stories of students leaving college with six figure debt are becoming common. So if you hear as I did that illegal immigrants are now eligible to receive private college funding are you wondering why the middle class once again is being left out in the cold? What do we tell these people? If you live out of state and want to send your child to a public university in Texas are you wondering why your student will have to pay more than someone who is not even a citizen of the US or Texas? It just does not seem right.

I have heard some who were brought here illegally as children claim that they know nothing else than the American way of life and consider themselves Americans. I truly do feel for these individuals and think that there should be a path to citizenship for them. But the fact remains that their parents made a tragic decision and they unfortunately, according to our laws are not Americans. Should American tax payers foot the bill both literally and figuratively for the mistakes of their parents while themselves having to tell their children that college is unaffordable? The answer should be no. Maybe in another time but now with deficits and shortfalls in budgeting for education reaching emergency proportions, we simply cannot absorb those who are not here illegally.

Could you send your child to Ecuador or Germany and expect to receive local grants for college? Doubtful.

No one is entitled to a free college education in this country. People who did not plan for their children's higher education are feeling the same pain, with no relief, and no one is sending their children to school. Yet somehow those how are here illegally are getting a chance that our citizens are not. Sometimes the answer should just be no.