Perhaps you’ve noticed Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce’s jihad against undocumented immigrants. The perpetually cranky Maricopa County crusader introduces a raft of retributive legislation in the Arizona Legislature each year in an attempt to drive out, or at least harass and demonize, undocumented immigrants.
This year, his shotgun approach includes a bill targeting the children of people who are in this country illegally. SB 1097—along with HB 2382, a companion bill in the House—would force public schools to collect data on the immigration status of all students and then provide it to the state.
Besides being a “logistical nightmare” for an already budget-starved public school system, as the Arizona School Administrators Association has pointed out, Pearce’s bill is also blatantly unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its 1982 Plyler v. Doe decision that public schools must provide a free education to all children who live within their districts, regardless of immigration status. The court held that the attempt by Texas public schools to deny educational benefits to undocumented children was a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, in that such children are human beings “in any ordinary sense of the term” and must be treated the same as any other children.
But SB 1097 is no ordinary bill. In fact, it has an ulterior purpose, one that Pearce readily admits: The bill is essentially a fishing expedition to dredge up data that can be used to calculate the cost of educating such children in order to provide fodder for a legal effort to overturn the Plyler decision. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has said it will sue if the bill becomes law, maintains that its true effect would be to deter undocumented children from attending public schools, despite their constitutional right to do so, which obviously dovetails nicely with Pearce’s underlying agenda.
I called my friend Jennifer Allen at the Border Action Network, an organization that watchdogs the corrosive legislative shenanigans of ideologues such as Pearce. She said that Pearce’s calculations ignore the multi-billion-dollar benefits that undocumented immigrants provide to Arizona’s economy and in tax revenues. She also pointed out that a significant amount of federal money going to Arizona’s schools could be denied if children were effectively deterred from attending public school through Pearce’s proposal.
“These legislators swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and now they’re voting for these bills knowing full well that they are illegal and will jeopardize federal funding,” Allen said.
Maybe you are aware of the details of Pearce’s legislative gambits, and you think that illegal, unworkable and incredibly expensive laws are a good idea. Or maybe you just support him on principle. In any event, I would ask you to consider another principle, that of fair play. Last fall, Judge Linda Yañez visited Tucson for a forum on this subject. She is a federal judge on the 13th Court of Appeals in Texas, but decades ago, she was the lead attorney on the original case that led to the Plyler v. Doe decision. She pointed out that the court clearly distinguished between denying benefits to people who purposely break the law and punishing children “who are present in this country through no fault of their own.”
On April 7, the Loft Cinema will screen Papers, a documentary that explores the plight of some 65,000 undocumented students who successfully graduate high school in this country every year, only to find themselves in a legal no-man’s land, and in some cases, deported. Aside from the utter foolishness of jettisoning years of educational investment before it can produce a return in terms of productive labor, the truth is that these kids have had to work harder than the average student to overcome cultural barriers, discrimination and the political stink cloud that accompanies their status. They are Americans, and I daresay that they appreciate American values and opportunities far more than narrow-minded legislators who would shred the Constitution just to visit revenge upon these students for the actions of their parents.
After her presentation, I asked Yañez about the role of racism. She acknowledged that it always plays some role in these issues, but offered her hopeful belief that “social-justice issues move more quickly within society than within law.”
When it comes to the lawmaking activities of Pearce and the Arizona Legislature, social justice—not to mention common sense—is not just moving slowly; it’s moving in the wrong direction.
This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2010.
OK, so let me see if I got this right. Illegals pay multibillions of dollars in taxes (even though the entire state revenue is only eight billion, and now reduced to about five), and we MUST educate their kids. But then, after they get their education (which THEIR parents pay for, along with that of all OUR kids), we must let them stay here and work, because otherwise all that money WE spent for THEIR education would be wasted?
Now I’m REALLY confused!
Can you start to see now all the problems with this illegal immigration? Well, can you? If these illegal alien children WERE NOT in this Country, would we have to teach them? They are here ILLEGALLY! What part of that don’t people understand? We want these illegal aliens out so American taxpayers don’t have to pay for their education. These children will do just as well in their own Country in learning and WE, the American taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay for it. Talk about needing reform. Let’s reform this! Let’s reform FREE healthcare for illegal aliens. If they weren’t here, would we have to pay for their healthcare? OH, and how about this birth-right citizenship? These children born here in America to an illegal alien is indeed an illegal alien child…and who paid for this child? 4.2 million illegal alien children born here in the last 15-16 years at $8,500 to $25,000 per birth. HOW MUCH WAS THAT? How many health clinics closed due to these illegal aliens. Would 16 be a fair number?
Illegal aliens are destroying this Country, and one would have to be almost blind not to see this. How much longer do we have to support these illegal aliens? How much longer do we have to school their illegal alien children? How much longer are we going to let them have our jobs? How much longer are we going to put up with all the crime, stolen identities, forged documents, fake green cards? How much longer are we going to allow these illegal aliens to send money out of this Country and bring our Country down? Oh, amnesty will correct all this. WRONG! Nothing will change except we wouldn’t be able to call them illegal aliens any more. Let’s get rid of these illegal aliens! Let’s get them back to their own Country where they belong!
Aren’t humans lovely?
The reasons the schools are so strapped for cash is BECAUSE of the illegals in the system! And where in the Constitutions does it say we HAVE to protect non citizens. The liberal mindset is a wild thing. The very nature of a constitution is to protect the rights of CITIZENS from the criminal and unjust actions by criminals, liberals and illeagal people and activity. Note I added liberals. Just my own opinion there but you get the jist of it. Illegals are NOT citizens and therfore NOT entitled the rights and protections given to real citizens! DEPORT THEM ALL NOW!
Illegals need to go home,We have enough problems. I Agree if they didn’t get here illegally,then it wouldn’t be an issue. Its not our job as Americans to fix everyone elses problems.Take Care of American Citizens FIRST!
Infowars.com
In the same paragraph, you said that high school graduates are “sometimes deported”, and that, “They are Americans.” If they are Americans, they are not subject to deportation. You seem to be blurring the distinction between citizens, legal residents, and those who reside here illegally. Could that be the object of your exercise? if so, to what end?
Yet another balanced and incisively researched column by Seraglio. He contacts his pro-immigrant activist friend who informs him of the multi-billion (billion ??? as in 9 zeros?) dollar economic benefit of illegal immigration. Then he confers with an activist Hispanic federal judge who verified his belief that anyone opposed to illegal immigration is racist.
The proposed legislation is an attempt to gather information about the citizenship of students in the public school system. That might result in data that would reveal the facts surrounding the economic burden of providing education and social services to the children of illegal immigrants. Considering how unimportant facts are in your version of journalism, I guess I understand why you are so phobic about this proposal.
I believe that there should be a “Patway to citizenship” for illegals……As long as the “pathway” starts anywhere on the south side of the border FIRST.
THEN Randy’s kids can benefit Mexico by the billions in Mexico.