August 2, 2007

Academic Benefits Denied to 5,000 Illegal Immigrants in Arizona, Report Says

Nearly 5,000 people in Arizona have been denied state-based financial aid, turned down in efforts to pay cheaper in-state college tuition, or rejected from adult-education classes since a voter-enacted measure barring illegal immigrants from receiving those services took effect on January 1, The Arizona Republic reported today.

A new Joint Legislative Budget Committee report says that 1,500 students at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona were denied financial aid or in-state financial status because they could not prove their legal status. An additional 1,790 community-college students statewide were blocked. And 1,403 out of 11,931 applicants for state adult education, more than 10 percent, were rejected.

The report provides the first snapshot of how many people applied for and were rejected from state-subsidized programs because of their legal status — long a controversial issue in the state. Before voters passed the ballot measure, Proposition 300, public colleges and other state agencies did not collect information about students’ legal status.

But, as the Republic notes, the report may not accurately reflect Proposition 300’s impact because it does not take into account the number of people who were discouraged from even applying for college or other programs because of their legal status. —Karin Fischer

Comments

1. As an Arizona tax payer, it just makes me feel good all over to deny people ediucation, not to mention health care and nutrition.

   — Dave    Aug 2, 04:39 PM    #

2. It costs enormous amounts of money to support illegal immigrants in the United States. It is about time to stop supporting illegal immigrants. Every state in the United States should take the same action against illegal immigrants.

   — Kan Chandras    Aug 2, 06:02 PM    #

3. Having been an out of state grad student I can well appreciate that out of country folks ought to pay out of state fees as well. I was a student in Canada, too and I had to pay out of country fees there. Legal foreign students have to pay extra, so illegals should too! If illegals don’t have to pay out of state fees, then why should we have out of state fees at all?

   — gl clib    Aug 2, 06:17 PM    #

4. In El Paso, Texas, there is an elementary school built right on the Rio Grande River (Texas/Mexico border demarcation). You can watch Mexican citizens walk their kids across a bridge to the American school where OUR tax dollars are educating and feeding them!!!
   I would never support legislation that denies CITIZENS of this country access to education, health care and nutrition. But, since when has Arizona or any other of the 50 states been responsible for feeding, clothing, curing and educating the populations of other countries? I welcome immigrants to this country – I love the diversity of our nation, however, there are protocols in this as in every other country in the world – become a citizen if you want to enjoy the fruits of citizenship. I know we live in a great country overflowing with all kinds of goodies, but I don’t feel compelled, no matter how poor and pitiful they may be, to put needy citizens of other countries before the needy (probably tax-paying) citizens in THIS country. To Dave in Arizona, if you feel so bad about it, why don’t you take some of those poor needy folks into your own home, feed, clothe, educate them on your salary – in fact, just put them ahead of your own family’s needs – let me know how that works out for you. In the meantime, I say to all those Mexican illegals shouting about taking over the border states…..go be crazy someplace else…. we’re all full up here!!!

   — Pat Moran, M.Ed.,    Aug 2, 06:28 PM    #

5. Can anyone identify the point in time when liberal americans went crazy and forgot the difference between legal immigration and illegal immigration??

   — dan smith    Aug 3, 06:00 AM    #

6. I’d like to know how illegal immigrants pay for college. I suppose they are given student loans. How will they pay these if they are here illegally and cannot obtain work? How do lenders justify this? We are setting these people up for failure, and of course, lenders are reaping the benefits while we all suffer the consequences.

   — kgotthardt    Aug 3, 07:31 AM    #

7. What part of the word “illegal” do you not understand?

   — Merilyn K. Lee    Aug 3, 08:10 AM    #

8. I’m glad to see that this law is working. My brother, a US citizen, went to U of A and paid out of state tuition because he was from NJ. Why would we give non-citizens a benefit our own citizens do not have? Unless other states take action, out of state students should say, “I don’t want special treatment, just treat me like an illegal immigrant.”

   — Marge    Aug 3, 09:27 AM    #

9. To Pat Moran, Here, here. Couldn’t have said it better myself!
   I continue to be amazed and dismayed at how so many of us continue to fail to understand what illegal means.

   — Sharon Griffith    Aug 3, 10:40 AM    #

10. Just a reminder that the individuals about whom we’re talking are college eligible graduates of Arizona high schools who were brought to the United States as young children, who have lived most of their life in Arizona, and who have no ability to return to the place from which they came.

    — Will    Aug 3, 11:31 AM    #

11. This issue is much more complex than legal vs. illegal. Many students are undocumented because their parents brought them over at a young age. These children have been acculturated in the American culture. This is their home. Why deny them the opportunity to contribute to our society in a meaningful way? There is of course the issue of U.S. policies and an economy that requires cheap plentiful labor. We benefit from the labor of undocumented citizens every time we sit down at the dinner table. Lets face facts and recognize them for the contributions they provide, and yes extend the benefit of education because it can only improve our communities to have educated members.

    — Carol    Aug 3, 11:54 AM    #

12. So, how does this work? Is everyone in the state required to prove their citizenship? Or just ones who the Citizenship Police suspect of not being an American? Are all white people exempt from citizenship searches? I know I don’t want to have my citizenship questioned, and I’m white. And how do I prove it; Americans are not required to prove they’re Americans. Any Citizenship Policeman that questions MY status as an American is going to get a punch in the nose. So maybe we should make this rule: only Hispanics can be asked to prove their citizenship, and Hispanic-Americans are prohibited from punching the Citizenship Police in the nose. I, as a white American, don’t want my right to punch the Citizenship Police in the nose taken away, and if we let Hispanic Americans have that same right, a lot of the Citizenship Police are going to get punched in the nose, and these Citizenship Police could be our brothers or sisters or our children. So I have another rule to cut down on all the punching of the Citizenship Police: all those who are caught being illegal immigrants will wear armbands that identify them as illegal. I suggest yellow armbands because they’re easily identifiable. That way the Citizenship Police can easily identify them and won’t have to risk getting punched in the nose by real Americans like me who resent having their Americanism questioned.

    — marci    Aug 3, 12:56 PM    #

13. The arguement that we “depend” on illegal immigrant labor is spurious. Most people would be willing to pay more for items where the labor was provided through legal means. In the long term illegal immigrant labor has substantial negative impacts on health care costs, education costs and the cost of a depressed wage because they undercut legal labor and lower everyone’s wages who do similar work. By the way, if the parents got here then the children can go back with their parents, that way we can escape the angst of splitting up families. The real solution includes, but is not limited to, heavy fines for those who employ undocumented workers, deportation for those who, conveniently, overstay their visas (assuming they have one) and expansion in the number of people allowed into the country from various areas as defined in federal law. The idea that we cannot solve this problem is simply absurd, if that were to be true we could not continue to exist as a nation.

    — David Holland    Aug 3, 01:55 PM    #

14. Translate this action into economic terms, and the comments might be different. The talent from 5,000 people who could be gaining the skills to add to the economy for our children and grandchildren, is being wasted. Do we really think that keeping all 5,000 in low-wage jobs, which will then require subsidizing their families in various ways, will make life better for any of us? Have any of us white people ever done something illegal — parking tickets, speeding, etc. — and haven’t we had a chance to make it right through fines and community service? Why do we want to punish ourselves by denying our future talent pool, as well as punishing these undocumented persons forever?

    — K. Ross    Aug 3, 02:33 PM    #

15. America, even with 12 to 15 million undocumented workers, still has an unemployment rate of less than 5%. In a free market economy that is considered FULL employment. That means that undocumented workers aren’t doing the jobs Americans WON’T do, they are doing the jobs that there aren’t enough Americans TO do. Quite simply, the American economy is bigger than its citizen labor supply. So, whether they’re undocumented or not, they are needed to keep the economy going. It’s simple arithmetic and logic, and to harass this sector of the labor force is to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

    — monk    Aug 3, 02:52 PM    #

16. Ever think that a lot of these “jobs” are to service the millions of illegal immigrants who are here?

    — kris    Aug 4, 03:48 PM    #

17. answer to comment no. 5, above: 1492

    — Woody    Aug 6, 11:17 AM    #

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