<p>I like this decision.</p>
<p>If North Korea can’t secure their borders, fat chance we will.</p>
<p>We wont. This is not happening by accident. There are motivating factors at work. Some economic. Most political.</p>
<p>In-state tuition is for those who pay taxes that support these schools. It’s simple, they don’t pay the taxes, they don’t get the tuition.</p>
<p>As someone whose immigrant family decided to become legal and paid tons of lawyer fees and waited 7 years for our green card, this is kind of silly and will just promote more illegal immigration. It’s already hard enough to become legal (but to our family worth it in the long run), but now there’s even less incentive to do so.</p>
<p>Also I still don’t know how they are going to work after they graduate. They can’t work (getting paid under the table is for jobs that don’t require schooling). They can’t go back to their countries unless they sneak through the border again, if their country is close enough to do that. So I’m not sure what they can do. Although I guess by then a lot will get married to a citizen (easy to find a citizen who is also of your same culture and race if needed).</p>
<p>Also I guess you could argue “but there’s so many illegal kids who’d do great things if they could!”, but eh, maybe I am cynical, but I doubt more than a handful would end up making any significant difference in our economy.</p>
<p>@gman,
Does that mean legal residents/citizens on welfare, who pay no income taxes, should also be excluded from in-state tuition rates?</p>
<p>The tax argument is a red herring. Otherwise, as a taxpayer to a state I don’t reside in (I’m a business owner), I should be entitled to in-state tuition for my kids.</p>
<p>I’ve come to the conclusion that in-state tuition has nothing to do w who pays taxes. It’s all about pleasing VOTERS. Even citizens who pay no taxes can vote. And in this case, it’s about pandering to certain present and “future” voters.</p>
<p>Florida has no personal income taxes; Florida’s constitution doesn’t allow a personal income tax. Florida state government is heavily dependent on sales taxes which hurts Florida’s poor more than its wealthier residents. Undocumented immigrants’ families living in Florida 3 years before going to college and getting in-state tuition pay a fair share of taxes needed to run Florida public colleges and universities. Florida lottery tickets bought by poor contribute to state university funding too. The undocumented immigrants living in Florida indirectly pay Florida real estate taxes too when they pay their rent. The undocumented immigrants are not going to be getting an entirely free ride if they receive in-state tuition.</p>
<p>20% of Florida’s current 20 million residents were born outside of the United States…allowing in-state tuition for the undocumented immigrants is popular with many Floridians…including Florida’s US citizens.</p>
<p>I’m willing to pay more for my strawberries and lawn care because if the illegals aren’t hired, they’ll stop coming … And guess what! My health insurance and car insurance premiums will drop as a result because we won’t be paying for all these people who don’t have insurance who drive and and go to the hospital regardless. Oh, I forgot … Obamacare makes it mandatory to have health insurance! Oooh, that’s scary … I’m sure the illegals are shaking in their boots! Maybe we can deport them for violating THAT law. And think of all the in-state legal kids that will now have a spot at their state U.</p>
<p>I definitely do not want to pay more for my produce, lawn care, poultry or new home. If you kick the illegals out, China and the rest of the third world will destroy California’s agricultural industry. </p>
<p>I am the first born in the US within my family. Fortunately, they came in the 1960s when America still welcomed immigrants. They all want to retire back to their country. I support the decision made by Florida. We need to get used to illegals being part of the economy.</p>
<p>“Hanna, I personally know two people very well who came here illegally, had a sham marriege they bought and are now legitimately here.”</p>
<p>I’m not arguing about what happened with people that you know; I’m saying that this is a complex and difficult process that does not work for many people. You may not know the failures. They may have been deported or gone underground. I represented the wife of a citizen before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals through a multi-year odyssey of jail and and removal orders. Her status was not normalized; we just won her a suspension of removal. It simply is not correct that someone with illegal status can get married, sham or otherwise, and quickly or easily or reliably get a green card. You may know people who made this work, but there are countless others for whom it does not.</p>
<p>
So you’re an illegal? What “opportunities” have you been denied? </p>
<p>Well, I’ll chime in to say that I also personally know of 2 such cases and there was nothing particularly special about either of them. The men overstayed visitor visas by years and married American girls. One was a sham but the girl didn’t know it. Poor thing. The other couple is still married and have 2 kids but they wouldn’t have tied the knot in the first place without the immigration issues. He happened to have two women from which to choose. One was a nurse who was willing to help and the other was his current GF. The girlfriend won but it was a little complicated since she wasn’t born here either and although she was born to American parents they weren’t great with paperwork. They used a 1-800-immagration attorney and it took about 9 months and cost $1500. </p>
<p>" I like this decision. "</p>
<p>A lot of people do. That YOU or anyone likes it does not make it the right one to make.</p>
<p>Yes, it is VERY easy to get id in a lot of states and fake ID is easier than real. Some of the fakes are very, very good so that the likelihood of getting caught with them is very small. If someone is truly determined to do ill, with time and careful planning, it’s a good chance they can do it. Measures are taken so it does take a lot of time, planning, inside knowledge and luck as sporadic thorough checks are made randomly. Unfortunately, illegal profiling is a powerful tool in making things a lot easier in terms of these things.</p>
<p>Though it takes time, knowhow and a lot of work, as well as the right contacts, and money helps a lot, it’s easier for most people to get legal status here illegally than legally and we make it even easier. There are some things that we can’t do much about but others that we can and we aren’t doing. We’ve taken a lot of teeth out of enforcement too. The police catch someone doing something wrong, and the id check so required shows fake id or no good id and the person is found to be illegally here. Too often a lot of pressure to let it go. Why? If some paper work glitch shows someone is not here legally through a techinicallity, the movement to deport is like gangbusters–happened to my sister in law, who end u here illegally due some paper work fail issues. And a marriage was a very quick fix to her issues and a VERY expensive one to the US government and a flat out stupidity Cost them over $85K to refuse to extend her stay a mere 3 months as she had student status at Harvard that started them. So she married my brother and became an officer’s wife with a hardship allowance for separated spouses. Voila! But yes, they were ready to deport her. </p>
<p>People living in the US are a lot more likely to meet people who were successful at adjusting status than people who failed and got deported. Unless you are a lawyer or social worker engaged with those folks, or they are members of your family, you probably will not see them.</p>
<p>Hanna, most of them should be deported if the law were being followed the way it should. The problem is that once a case gets attention and gets into the legal system, it IS difficult to get in here. It’s just that’s like a lottery if you get so picked. For most of the cases, they are just fine.</p>
<p>A high profile case some years ago was Jessica Coloti. Do note, that she was driving without a drivers license, had an unregistered car, fake id, was at a state university getting state rates, lied to the police, was illegally in the country. Ralleys were held FOR her cause. She graduated from Kennewaw and is working just fine right now. Look her up. A rare case due to the publicity, but really there are many, many illegals driving around in cars and with fake ids. They aren’t just here illegally. They are breaking many, many rules while here endangering all of us. Twice our family has been involved in car accidents with illegals. They can “Poof” disappear. They have all phantom documents, and no insurance, no anything. They should have deported that woman and instead made her a poster child of how it pays to do all of the illegal things she did.</p>
<p>Are we supposed to feel sorry for deported illegals? Btw, California’s ag industry is being destroyed right now by our Federal government diverting water from farms. They won’t be needing many farmworkers. Thanks… </p>
<p>The water diversion is hurting the farmers due to severe lack of rain over the past 2 years. It isn’t just a Federal Government cause.
<a href=“National Geographic”>National Geographic;
<p>Actually the CA drought hurting Central Valley farmers is a lack of rain along with big city water politics, climate change concerns, and a very strong desire to protect an endangered fish. It’s mostly a man made situation, although more rain would be helpful.</p>
<p>We are supposed to feel sorry for ANYONE with misfortunes regardless of whether they are illegals or criminals or whatever. A terrible misfortune is just that. And when it comes to illegal immigrants here, I do feel terribly for them and I admire about them. I doubt if I could do what it entails to change ones lot in life. There is much to admire and to feel sorry, when things don’t work out for them.</p>
<p>But the way we do not enforce our own laws and actually abet the process is CAUSING this situation. I blame US. We are hypocrites and idiots the way we are dealing with this. One side of the government is working hard at keeping out, looking for illegals and deporting, and the other side in taking care of those who are here and championing their causes. Does this make any sense to anyone? I say throw them all out, and then start changing the rules to ones that can be enforced with adequate penalties to citizens who are involved in the process of bringing in, hiring, giving fake ids, taking advantage, etc to make it unworthwhile to hire illegals. A system to check social security numbers. Why this work pick up site is legal where these men can mill around, most of them illegals, I have no idea. </p>
<p>So, no, it’s not the illegals that I have the big problem with but with US and our government in particular. But the whole danged situation is a sham and shame given the big ol’ inscription we have on our Statue of LIberty even as we deport at our borders. </p>
<p>Okay, I guess I never really saw being deported after overstaying a visa as a misfortune. Again, I know people who have done this. They knew the risks and they were worried. Probably much more worried than they needed to be until they got married and solved the problem. Employment was an issue, btw. Not insurmountable, but it was a problem.</p>