The case of a 21-year-old illegal immigrant who has nearly finished her undergraduate degree at Kennesaw State University has put the Georgia institution at the center of the debate over whether local officials—in this case, a public college’s admissions office—should be responsible for helping to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today that Georgia’s public colleges do not ask applicants to prove their citizenship or their legal immigration status, and while the colleges take steps to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving benefits—like paying cheaper in-state tuition rates—that policy took effect only after the 21-year-old student, Jessica Colotl, was admitted. Ms. Colotl was arrested in March for a driving infraction that led local authorities to determine she was in the country illegally, having been brought to the United States as a child. The university did not know of her status until that point, and critics, including a Republic gubernatorial candidate, have demanded that colleges start checking the nationality of all students. The University System of Georgia’s chancellor, Erroll B. Davis Jr., said that, at $25 to $50 for each of the system’s 300,000 students, such checks would be unaffordable. Legislation pending in Congress would provide a path to citizenship for students like Ms. Colotl.
- 1255 Twenty-Third St, N.W.
- Washington, D.C. 20037
- Copyright © 2013 The Chronicle of Higher Education
Here’s a novel idea: perhaps University admissions officers should be allowed to stick to what they do best — evaluating the **academic** qualifications of persons applying to the institution without discrimianting based on national origin or the lack of a certain piece of paper. We can then leave the immigration evaluation to those who are best able to interpret the ridiculous morass of laws and regulations that strangle the lives of so many talented, intelligent, hopeful young students. As the piece says, there is legislation pending (and there has been for a decade), that would solve the problems faced by undocumented students, and also now potentially by all admissions officers in the University System of Georgia. Pass immigration reform, and let us go back to the important work of educating **all** students, not punishing some of them for the actions of their parents.
She was arrested twice – first time for driving w/o a drivers license by campus police and they soon determed her illegal status and turned her over to immigration officials, and secondly for providing false adrress on the first arrest by Cobb county sheriff’s office. The university has intervened and she will be able to graduate and remain here for one year.How was she able to register at the university? Was her social security number valid or forged?Does she have car insurance?Is she getting a HOPE scholarship?Every fiften years years we seem to have legislation for amnesty – this kind of action is simply a quick-fix rather than solving the issue.
Applicants are American citizens or they are not.Applicants have a student visa or they do not.Universities should be required by law to collect this information and act on it.Further, all faculty, staff and students should be required by law to provide a police record at their own expense.”Should Admissions Offices Enforce Immigration Law?” YES!!
I am with rcatmur (#1): Why is it the job of universities and employers to verify citizenship or immigration status? Law enforcement is a government responsibility.Employers who have made good faith efforts to verify citizenship have been fined when they were duped by forged documents. But few employers have expertise in this area. Employers and schools should cooperate with law enforcement but the final responsibility must remain with law enforcement professionals. It is sad to see governmental officials decry the “escalating costs” of higher education while proposing huge unfunded mandates like verification of citizenship, criminal background checks, etc.
What part of “illegal” is not understood here?She was here illegally. She and her family have cost or will cost our citizens jobs amont other things. Just because WE have jobs doesn’t reduce the plight of countless other US citizens and legal imigrants who are unemployed. There are laws in this country and they need to be followed not laughed at. Students should be able to prove they are US citizens or be denied access to all US benefits including an education. We need to remove the motivation for breaking our laws, not encourage this kind of action. By the way, I am a LEGAL imigrant who waited over two years to enter this country LEGALLY, and after the five year waiting period became a citizen and whose parents, through hard work, paid for my college education. We should do everything in our power to help our government and authorities enforce the law.
Leave colleges and universities out of this. We have enough unfunded mandates to enforce and respond to without adding one more. Illegal immigrants receive K-12 education, health care, social services, etc. without question of their citizenship; why at the end of their education should they be ‘caught’? You can attend higher ed without an SSN but you don’t get federal or state aid. This student probably paid her own way and she should be allowed to. Taking our job?? Even with a degree she’ll have a hard time getting someone to employ her without having to sponsor her. Not something anyone should envy. Driving without a license, no insurance? Sure punish her for that, but don’t deny her the one small chance that she might have to improve her life and maybe, just maybe, become a legal resident or citizen. We should worry more about the young people who have no interest in higher ed and become burdens to our society. Pass the DREAM Act now.
source: http://www.cairco.org/econ/econ.html“Immigration is a net drain on the economy; corporate interests reap the benefits of cheap labor, while taxpayers pay the infrastructural cost. FAIR research shows “the net annual cost of immigration has been estimated at between $67 and $87 billion a year…. Even studies claiming some modest overall gain for the economy from immigration ($1 to $10 billion a year) have found that it is outweighed by the fiscal cost ($15 to $20 billion a year) to native taxpayers.” The article in its entirity is worth the read.#5: Welcome to America.
The primary issue here is not how to treat undocumented residents, but whose job it is to enforce immigration law.If employers and universities are to be required to receive and evaluate documents (including determining when documents are forgeries), who is next? Will that barista at Starbucks be required to see my papers before I can get a latte? Will I have to scan my papers as well as my credit card before pumping gas? This is a federal responsibility and it is shameful for government officials to attempt to pass the cost of enforcement along to employers, schools and others. Politicians who want to step up enforcement should have the integrity to find tax revenues to support federal and state enforcement efforts. Let others do what they do best: let schools educate students and employers create jobs and provide services.
#5, I don’t believe they should “receive K-12 education, health care, social services, etc. without question of their citizenship” either. Those outfits should also be held accountable. Again, it is all our jobs to make sure the law is upheld and eliminate the motivation for breaking our laws.
Pardon me, I meant #6.
As DSO (designated school official) for my center, I am not required (nor should I be) to make sure that every student verifies they are here legally. My job is to ensure that those here under a valid visa follow the process for international students to attend college. If someone applying for school lies on his/her application that is between the individual and ICE.If I suspect an individual is “out of status” for his/her visa, I can encourage that person to meet with an immigration attorney and I can deny them entry to the university, but I will NOT call the authorities. I have no proof of their status and am not permitted to pry beyond the limits of my role of DSO.
#6 “Driving without a license, no insurance? Sure punish her for that, but don’t deny her the one small chance that she might have to improve her life and maybe, just maybe, become a legal resident or citizen.”That sounds nice. However, with a finite freshman class number, what happens to the “other” applicant? What happens to the applicant whose spot she took illegally?#11 “As DSO (designated school official) for my center, I am not required (nor should I be) to make sure that every student verifies they are here legally.”As a 30 – 50k paid state employee it is above your paygrade to determine your job description and how you will do it. With cuts slashing universities’ budgets, administrations should look at reducing clerk positions. Short and emotional answers are part of the reason we continue to patch the problem rather than find a solution.
I wonder what the reaction would be if this had been a story about a poor, but bright, Kentucky resident who lied about her address on her application in order to pay in-state tuition in Georgia?My experience is that most state aggressively fight against that type of fraud. Why should this fraud be any less egregious?Sympathies for or against illegal immigrants aside, she blatantly lied on her application. For nearly every institution with which I am familiar, providing false information on an admission application is grounds for immediate dismissal.
“That sounds nice. However, with a finite freshman class number, what happens to the “other” applicant? What happens to the applicant whose spot she took illegally?”It is highly unlikely that this student, at a public school with open enrollment, actually took any other potential student’s “spot”.
When we take new jobs all of us are required to provide information on our eligibility to work. The few times I have been an adjunct I have had to fill out an i-9 form, even when I have taught at that particular university several times. It is not too burdensome. We should have college students fill out one as well.