By snoadmin
Illegal immigration has and will always be a hot topic for the United States and its citizens. Some are ill tempered toward the matter, while others hold a more sympathetic outlook on the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has recently sided on the compassionate side of the spectrum after supporting a controversial California law this past Monday.
The 2001 California law, AB 540, allows students who have attended at least three years of high school and graduated with a high school diploma inside the state to be exempt from paying out-of-state tuition at University of California, state universities and community colleges. The law applies to everyone equally, regardless of U.S. or California citizenship.
Forty-two out-of-state students collectively appealed the California Supreme Court ruling, stating that AB 540 violated a 1996 federal law that prohibits states from allowing undocumented immigrants breaks on college tuition based on residence unless it applies equally to all U.S. citizens. However, the U.S. Supreme Court did not care to hear the reasoning behind the appellants’ argument, and instead supported the November California ruling because it is “based on high school attendance, not residence,” as stated in an article by the San Francisco Gate. A round of applause for the high court.
According to the article, the law saves illegal immigrants almost $23,000 a year at UC campuses, $11,160 at CSUs and $4,400 at community colleges a year.
“This is a good day for higher education and for California high school graduates,” said UC lawyer Ethan Schulman. Schulman estimated that nearly one-third of the 2,000 UC students paying lower tuition under the 2001 law are undocumented students, a figure that angers many out-of-state students.
The 42 out-of-state students and their lawyer, Michael Brady, claim the measure “undermines federal law, which was intended to prevent illegal immigrants from getting in-state tuition,” but isn’t there a possibility this could be beneficial to the U.S.?
Sure, we could go ahead and take after Arizona and implement absurd laws that are meant to speed up the deportation process, but California is better than that. Undocumented immigrants are not rodents. They are people capable of success if they are motivated, dedicated and provided with the right resources. Allowing undocumented immigrants a tuition break based on high school attendance grants affordable college education to those deemed worthy of it. This will encourage people to receive a high school diploma so that the idea of attending college remains within reach.
Think of it this way: The less attainable a college degree is for undocumented immigrants, the more willing they will be to resort to a lifestyle of crime in order to sustain some sort of “well-being,” if you can call it that. The more we incorporate undocumented immigrants into our educational system and economy, the more we’ll prevail as a whole.
This California law very much resembles the DREAM Act, a bill introduced to speed up the citizenship process for qualified illegal immigrants who graduate from U.S. high schools or serve in the military. Congress revised the bill so it does not force states to grant illegal students in-state tuition, and although it passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, unfortunately for undocumented students, it did not pass in the Senate.
The Supreme Court upheld a similar law to California’s AB 540 in 11 additional states. According to a Time’s article, “Twelve other states have laws in place that explicitly refuse to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.”
California residents should take pride in the state’s willingness to authorize tuition breaks to deserving undocumented students. Instead of following other states down the path of hostility, California is providing illegal immigrants the chance to be a part of the state’s educational system.
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