Perry & Texas Are Right
Kevin Bryant
Over the course of the last couple of debates, Rick Perry has taken a real beating for the appearance that he is weak in immigration. In particular, his stance on the children of illegal immigrants receiving in state tuition cost at Texas universities.
Now let the arguments commence. I for one agree with the policy though I do not think it quite goes far enough. The one thing that seems to escape all those hammering him on this subject is “ children of illegals who are here do to no fault of their own”. It’s not like some 6 year old decided one day to leave Mexico on his or her own and come to the U.S. to start a new life. So, somebody had to bring them across and I bet it was the parents.
Now you have a illegal child in the U.S., what do we do in all public schools, we educate them in accordance with the law. By the time this 6 year old illegal has graduated high school, between $40,000 and $80,000 has been spent on this child’s education.
Now he or she is a high school graduate but is still here illegally which means he or she can’t find a job that doesn’t pay under the table, off the books or whatever term you prefer. So, what happens to this person, they become even more of a drain on the system.
You can’t fix this kind of problem until you address border security directly. Seal the borders tighter than a drum and then those who are complaining have a legitimate complaint.
Until then, so long as this child – kid – young adult has not gotten into any trouble with the law, graduated high school in accordance with state and federal requirements and otherwise meets the requirements for college acceptance, then why not get this kid into the system, start the paperwork for citizenship and allow them to go to college.
Chances are, if this kid has graduated high school, never had a run in with the law and meets the requirements for college, he or she would make the most of the opportunity and become a productive and positive citizen of the U.S. and member of society.
Many hearing but not listening to the debates never heard the words “put them on a path to citizenship” , they never heard “to no fault of their own”. All they heard was “illegal”. Are we a society where we directly make the kids suffer because of actions of the parents?
If the kid completes college, he gets a job, earns a living, pays taxes on those earnings and eventually pays back all the money spent to him in the form of sales tax, fica tax, med tax, gas tax and each of the other 120 types of taxes we have.
Even if this kid doesn’t complete college, he or she is now legal to be in and work in the U.S. He or she now has a legal social security number and is required to pay taxes.
Now, the one step further I stated in the beginning. In addition to all the requirements for college mentioned, I would include making the parents register as being in the country go to the back of the line for citizenship and college was conditional upon one of the parents finding gainful employment. The family as a whole would be fined $10,000 to be paid to the state within 10 years.
So, Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, what exactly is NOT logical and beneficial about Texas’s approach to dealing with children of illegals? Come up with a better solution or shut your mouths because you are criticizing for the sake of criticizing. What plan have ANY OF YOU offered that meets or exceeds the one in Texas? Truth is none of you have one.
