In the wake of the state’s $14.5-billion deficit, a state
assemblyman recently proposed legislation that would provide members of the
California National Guard with free tuition at state colleges and universities
while simultaneously repealing legislation that would allow some illegal
immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition.
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) estimated that the cost
of covering tuitions for all persons serving in the California National Guard
to be about $3 million.
“We are the only state in the nation that doesn’t cover our
national guardsmen,” said Robert Flanigan, a senior consultant for DeVore.
“These men and women are called upon more than any guard in the nation — they
fight fires, floods, earthquakes and wars abroad. It’s due time that we
properly compensate them for their service.”
DeVore’s bill, titled AB 1758, seeks to repeal AB 540,
legislation passed in 2001 that granted illegal immigrants eligibility for
in-state tuition if they graduated from a
high school and agreed to legalize their resident status if given the
opportunity.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated the cost of
in-state residency waivers, granted primarily to illegal immigrants, to be $117
million in 2005-06.
Flanigan said that the annual $3-million cost of covering
national guardsmen is a wiser allocation of resources, compared to the $117
million spent on in-state residency waivers for illegal immigrants, especially
when considering the state’s budget deficit.
“When we are in a budget deficit and we are cutting vital
services like Medicare among other things, why aren’t we cutting this?”
Flanigan said. “This should be the first to go, and as far as investing in our
state’s future, who is to say these people are going to stay here?”
Flanigan explained that tying the National Guardsmen issue
to the costs of funding education for illegal immigrants would put economic
issues into better perspective for taxpayers and the Democrat-controlled state
Legislature.
“The state chooses to reward people who are here illegally
with $117 million, yet is unable to cover guard members when it only costs $3
million a year,” he said. “Taxpayers need to ask themselves, ‘Is this a wise
allocation of our resources? Is this how I want my money to be spent?’”
member of the Migrant Rights Awareness group at UCSD, expressed her concerns
regarding DeVore’s proposed legislation.
“The repealing of AB 540 is not the worst part of this law,”
she said. “It’s the crafting, execution, attention and message that it sends to
the general public.”
passing the bill would send the wrong message to
and the rest of the nation regarding the state’s stance on illegal immigration.
“It questions the fundamental right to education for a
community that is already disenfranchised, it adds division to the already
divided American public and it reinforces the dualism of ‘us’ vs. ‘them,’”
said.
illegal immigrants pay sales tax and oftentimes contribute to Social Security
funds, benefits that they may never be able to reclaim. In fact, recent years
have seen an increase in Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers — issued to
individuals obliged to pay taxes but who cannot obtain a Social Security number
— many of which belong to illegal immigrants.
“The truth is that by separating the ‘illegal immigrants’
from the ‘taxpayers’ of our society, we create a dualism and division that is
easy for people to buy into; the illegal versus the legal, the good versus the
bad,”
having to explain that the ‘illegal immigrant’ community is human beings. Not
until our society is able to embrace that idea will we be able to have open
dialogue about the downfalls and solutions of immigration.”
AB 540 primarily impacted the community college system, and even with the
benefits provided by the bill, high-tier universities like UCSD are not within
the reach of many first-generation college students.
“I am sure that the Assemblyman Chuck DeVore has not
realized the very low fiscal impact that these students actually have since
waivers of in-state tuition are not only provided for illegal immigrants but
also for other students,” she said.
AB 1758 is scheduled to be heard March 4 in the Assembly
Higher Education Committee.
