A colleague of mine, Frankie Volpicella, recently posted a
blog titled, “Financial
Aid of the Illegal Kind,” commenting on how he believes that illegal
immigrants should not be eligible for financial aid, or for in-state tuition in
Texas. I have to disagree with him on this one. Illegal immigrants are going to
be here in Texas whether we like it or not. It is just part of living in this
wonderful border state. We must somehow find a way to get over the negative
aspects of this situation and start looking towards the future, and finding a
solution to the “problem.”
Volpicella states, “The bottom line is that Texas citizens
pay taxes for these schools and in turn receive benefits. Illegal immigrants
don't pay taxes, yet are still offered other citizens' hard earned money in the
form of financial aid.” What I think may be being overlooked here is the fact
that illegal immigrants do pay taxes. They contribute greatly to sales tax as
well as property tax. I know that most people who are against benefits for
illegal immigrants would love to believe that it’s a free ride for them, but
that is simply not the case. According to former Texas Comptroller, Carole
Keeton Strayhorn, ““The absence of the estimated 1.4 million undocumented
immigrants in Texas in fiscal 2005 would have been a loss to our gross state
product of $17.7 billion.” That is quite a lot of revenue, considering that the
amount of illegal immigrants that actually attend college in Texas is very low;
we should be looking at this objectively.
If Texas were to decide against educating illegal
immigrants, I truly believe that the state would suffer greatly as a result.
With Texas having such a high level of poverty, would barring anyone from a
good education in this state solve that problem? Unfortunately, most residents
of Texas living in poverty tend to be of Hispanic origin. So because of this
fact, I am almost certain that most illegal immigrants in Texas are not able to
afford a higher level of education. Contributing to an undocumented citizens’
education will, I believe, only help the Texas economy in the long run. They
will become educated, most likely seek citizenship, and become a taxpaying resident.
These educated illegals will most likely begin contributing to society financially, instead of relying
on social services, which have been such a heavy burden for Texas to carry thus
far. This could quite possibly lead to a decrease in the amount of poverty in
Texas, being that the poverty cycle will be able to stop with this generation,
if just given the chance.
Another issue that Volpicella brings up in his blog is the
issue of these illegal immigrants who have graduated high school not yet having
obtained their citizenship. Volpicella states, “Any parent or student receiving
financial aid for their studies should seek out citizenship first. Though the
process is known to be lengthy, many students can easily obtain it before
finishing high school.” The first problem that I have with this statement is
that you must be at least 18 to even apply for citizenship, which would make it
impossible to obtain citizenship before finishing high school, if your own
parents are not yet citizens. The other problem with this statement is that,
unfortunately, these young adults may not yet be knowledgeable enough about the
process of obtaining citizenship. Especially if their parents don’t speak
English and are uneducated, they are most likely not receiving any real
information about the process. According to the
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the following requirements are
necessary to obtain citizenship:
·
“Be 18 or older
·
Be a green card holder for at least 5 years
immediately preceding the date of filing the Form N-400, Application for
Naturalization
·
Have lived within the state, or USCIS district
with jurisdiction over the applicant’s place of residence, for at least 3
months prior to the date of filing the application
·
Have continuous residence in the United States
as a green card holder for at least 5 years immediately preceding the date of
the filing the application
·
Be physically present in the United States for
at least 30 months out of the 5 years immediately preceding the date of filing
the application
·
Reside continuously within the United States
from the date of application for naturalization up to the time of
naturalization
·
Be able to read, write, and speak English and
have knowledge and an understanding of U.S. history and government (civics).
·
Be a person of good moral character, attached to
the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well-disposed to
the good order and happiness of the United States during all relevant periods under the law”
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