Recently, Colorado has considered new laws in order to accommodate immigrant children into both high schools and colleges. The Dream Act in particular, allows immigrants to pay for in-state tuition if they have attended a high school in Colorado. While the Dream Act has been beneficial to immigrants and their education, has it positively impacted the state of Colorado at all? That is the major question. As Americans, and Coloradans, we want to be fair and offer immigrants a good education and a safe place to live, but we also need to realize that this process is taking money and rights away from documented citizens and schools. In order to benefit the Colorado community, the Dream Act should not be passed.
The Dream Act is intended to provide conditional permanent residency to certain illegal and deportable alien students who graduate from US high schools. The Development, and Relief and Education for Alien Minors states that these people must be of good moral character, arrive in the US illegally as minors, and have been in the country continuously for at least five years. In a recent Denver Post editorial, the editors argue that treating the children of illegal immigrants as state residents is the right things to do, both morally and economically. The publisher makes his main point in being that “children should not suffer for the actions of their parents.” These students were brought into the country as babies or toddlers by their family. Technically, they have committed no crime. Yes, it is unfortunate a child must pay the consequences for something they did not do, but as of now it is the law. The law is necessary because it keeps both individual states and the country running smoothly and at peace. Without a law restricting immigration, immigrants would receive ever opportunity every documented citizen did with no price. Everyone would be unequal. The U.S. Supreme Court requires for the state to invest money towards the education of immigrants from kindergarten to grade twelve. Why should we invest millions more towards only four more years of schooling? Overall, this money is lessening the money legal citizens have to be sent to college. This article states that it is only the fair thing to do to let immigrant children pay for in-state college tuition, but what about out of state citizens? Is it fair to allow non-tax paying immigrants a right over tax paying citizens? This law may not directly affect Colorado teenagers preparing for college, but it does hurt out of state students. Colorado students are still paying in-state tuition for an in-state college. On the other hand, students that want to come to Colorado schools are getting an unequal opportunity. They are still paying full payment, whereas immigrants get the benefit of the doubt. If we were being completely fair and treating immigrants as we do citizens, immigrants should be paying full price to attend college. While immigrants have been living here since the time they could walk, they still are not legal state residents. Sending these less fortunate children to school is not frowned upon, but they should not accept the benefits of a state resident. The money is not only taken individually from students, but the majority of the money is being deducted from the education system itself. By having nonresidents pay for in-state tuition, the state universities money diminishes. Again, in order for the Dream Act to be a fair law, immigrants should not be able to pay in-state tuition because lawfully, Colorado is not their state.
The Dream Act was recently further debated by Coloradans. “Why would Colorado be encouraging students to go to college who cannot later get a job because they have no Social Security number or work visa?” This was the major question asked during the hearing of Senate Bill 126 just a couple weeks ago. The reply: “until they are legal in this country, I don’t see what the advantage is of offering them false hope.” It recently passed the education panel of Colorado. This bill is slowly working its way to become a Colorado law. This debate is happening right now in the state of Colorado as we speak. While it may be viewed as fair to allow immigrants to pay for instate tuition, it is also giving immigrants, as Tim Hoover stated, “false hope.” It is almost immoral to give these people this kind of hope of succeeding later in life in America, when there are few jobs available for them at the time. We can send this less educated people to higher universities but as soon as they graduate, they will be right back where they started four years ago without a job.
Illegal immigration is definitely putting a dent in the education system not only in Colorado, but the entire United States. Immigration extends way further than just education. The cost of illegal immigration, including the cost of arrest, detention, and deportation, is being footed by the tax payers of Colorado. Therefore, it is further increasing the burden of the state. Some illegal immigrants do not pay taxes to live in the States. Yes, there are some who do just not in their real name although it does not include all immigrants. In consequence, state residents end up paying much more to appeal to the costs of immigrants. For example, Colorado requested compensation of $24 million from the federal government towards the incarceration of illegal immigrants. The issue is, the federal government only pays for a certain amount in compensation, and the remaining millions depend on Colorado taxpayers to make up for through taxes. Overall, Coloradans are paying for immigrants to live and benefit from this country. Immigrants moving to this country are not only increasing the cost of taxes, but also affect the state physically. As population increases, open space decreases, and housing becomes more crowded. Simple things such as traffic and commuting increases which leads to more roads constructed and money being spent to alleviate it. This leads to more fuel burned, and more money spend on gas. School admissions increase which means more teachers need to be hired and more schools need to be built. The simple necessities and everyday actions are taken back a step just because of immigrants moving into this country.
Overall, immigrants impose a negative effect to both the education and financial aspect of Colorado. While immigrants are not a threat to American society, they impose a negative outcome to the system. The Dream Act is trying to create equality between immigrants and citizens. The passing of this bill will be the true indicator of whether or not this act is ‘fair.’ As a community, city, and state, we need to go out and convince Senator Bob Bacon, Senator Michael Johnston, and Senator Angela Giron to veto this bill to benefit the state of Colorado.
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