DREAM Act gives immigrant kids a shot
I would like to thank the
Ms. Forsythe couldn't be more misguided. The DREAM Act would only serve to reward individuals that have brought their children on the dangerous journey to illegally enter the US. While it's understandable for people to want a better life for their children, this legislation rewards people who have endangered their children and violated the laws and customs of the United States. The author speaks about "...Americans who didn't have to work for their citizenship!" Unfortunately, she fails to realize that the illegals, having broke our laws, have not really worked for citizenship (which they don't have in any event). Yet, she believes in granting illegal immigrants the benefits of citizenship. It should always be noted that the consternation that follows this matter is reserved for illegal immigrants. There are large numbers of immigrants that flow into the US annually and they follow the law, coming legally. These legal immigrants have made many sacrifices in order to jion our society. It would be unjust to them if illegal aliens were simply given a free pass. Thom hit the nail on the head. I will support the DREAM Act the day that every child who is here LEGALLY can afford options that this act would afford illegals - and then only if the state still has excess funding for higher education ( which considering that CSU just attempted to raise their tuition by 33% isn't going to happen soon). I am sorry that the the author of the letter seems to ignore the fact that many of the "...Americans who didn't have to work for their citizenship!" are the children & grandchildren of Americans who DID work for their citizenship - whose very livelyhood has been stolen by the illegal immigrants & the employers, whether they are businesses or individuals, who hire them. Perhaps if teaching jobs were given to illegals (or offshored & taught remotely) the author would feel differently about the issue. We just brought in 20 million uneducated racists who usally have two or more kids, so some construction company owner can buy that boat they always wanted. And now, I get to pay to educate the 40 million anchor babies that shouldn't be here to begin with. Wow what a deal! How lucky am I! Don't you love it when teachers think that bacause they are called teachers they are all wise and worldly. The rape of the working class Americans standard of living and the cost of thier childrens right to a "good education is completely lost to this teacher. If you are so proud of your work with this ILLIGALS, why not teach them to speak English and learn our customs? If you want to pay for their education go ahead and while your at if would you pay for my kids also? And some have the nerve to ask what is wrong with our education system and why do they always demand more money for teacher salaries. As I have said before, I am willing to compromise on this one - as many of the kids had no say in being dragged across our border illegally or being born here to illegal parents. But there has to be a TRUE compromise if the parents of these kids really want their kids to BE Americans and have that future. THIS IS FOR (Mackenzie Forsythe), THERE IS NO SUCH WAY ANCHOR BABIES ARE LEGAL, READ YOUR CONSTITUTION !!!!! 14TH AMENDMENT AS FOLLOWS :The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Amendment XIV) is one of the post-Civil War amendments, intended to secure rights for former slaves. It includes the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses among others. It was proposed on June 13, 1866, and ratified on July 9, 1868.[1] It is now regarded as one of the most important components of the Constitution. The amendment provides a broad definition of national citizenship, overturning the Dred Scott case, which excluded African Americans. It requires the states to provide equal protection under the law to all persons (not only to citizens) within their jurisdictions, and was used in the mid-20th century to dismantle legal segregation, as in Brown v. Board of Education. Its Due Process Clause has driven many important and controversial cases around privacy rights, abortion (see Roe v. Wade), and other issues. The other two post-Civil War amendments are the Thirteenth Amendment (banning slavery) and the Fifteenth Amendment (banning race-based voting qualifications). According to Supreme Court Justice Noah Swayne, "Fairly construed, these amendments may be said to rise to the dignity of a new Magna Carta." Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. Section 5. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. However, the phrase and subject to the jurisdiction thereof indicates that there are some exceptions to the universal rule that birth on U.S. soil automatically grants citizenship. The following persons born in the United States are not considered "subject to the jurisdiction [of the United States]", and thus do not qualify for automatic citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment: * Children born to foreign diplomats; * Children born to enemy forces in hostile occupation of the United States; * Children born to Native Americans who are members of tribes not taxed (these were later given full citizenship by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924). The following persons born in the United States are explicitly citizens: * Children born to US citizens; * Children born to aliens who are lawfully inside the United States (resident or visitor), with the intention of amicably interacting with its people and obeying its laws. SO THEREFORE ILLEGALS ARE BORN TO FOREIGN DIPLOMATS , THEREFORE THIS IS STILL ILLEGAL FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO BE HERE WHETHER OR NOT YOU AGREE SO THEREFORE ILLEGALS ARE BORN TO FOREIGN DIPLOMATS , THEREFORE THIS IS STILL ILLEGAL FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO BE HERE WHETHER OR NOT YOU AGREE Mackenzie Forsythe , when you spray for cockroaches, they come running out. Good job. And a very insightful letter that treats people as human beings. The Godless right hasn't caught on to that yet. When people foam at the mouth, you can't expect any sense to come out of them. As to the citizenship of children of illegal immigrants bron in the United States, when hoimaha and his/her ilk are able to convince the extremently anti-immigration organization, Federation for American Immigration Reform, that they are not citizens. then they can try to convince others. From that organization: "The United States is unusual in its offer of citizenship to anyone born on its soil." I don't know of anyone with a brain who agrees with the hoimaha crap. hey human , do dont have to beleive it, but i will let you know if learn how to read this is in our constitution it is called the 14th amendment. read it someday you might accually learn something as in :Children born to aliens who are lawfully inside the United States (resident or visitor) key word lawfully , i am native American and until you human realize we were here b4 anyone you have no right to speak cause our land was taken from us and we were slaughtered along with our horses and burned our villages with our women and children , I am American , more American than you , there for i do not want more people trying to take my land and have me pay for their medical and education, if you want to come into this country there is a thing called due processes use it and abuse it , otherwise piss off Good post Anonymous 7:47 A.M. I especially liked the Section 1 provision. "The following persons born in the United States are explicitly citizens: "Children born to aliens who are LAWFULLY inside the United States.......... Hey human bean, just post your ssn on the web for all the illigals to use and you will see how nice they are to have here. If you want to educate them take them home and improve their school systems and the idea in their culture improve the idea that an education is needed to advance in life. do it over there and not here. I don't mean to interupt or change the subject, but I wanted to get the word out to as many people as possible. There is a puppy mill being operated in parker. The parker police, animal control, and even the ISPCA claim that they cannot do anything about the situation. If anybody has any resources or is able to provide for these dogs, please leave some contact information. Thank you 14th Amendment to our Constitution: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States" Are children of illegal immigrants who are born in the United States subject to the jurisdiction of the United States? That is, for example, if they commit a crime here can they tried here? Of course. Are they subject ot the laws of the United States? Of course. Do they have diplomatic immunity? Are you kidding? It's a no brainer. I can see an argument for changing the provision. But you can't change it simply by ignoring it. Here is a real funny one from hoimaha: "SO THEREFORE ILLEGALS ARE BORN TO FOREIGN DIPLOMAT" No, really, he actually said that. I was hoping he would give us the name of that foreign diplomat who fathered the hundreds of thousands, or I suppose millions of children of illegal immigrants born in the U.S. Whatta guy! He must be a diplomat extraordinaire. Mexico needs to be FORCED to pay for these children and their parents. Education, Health care etc. Why in hell should the American taxpayer be spending money to benefit the Mexican people?? I'm with ME. But I say build the fence all around the U.:S. and build it high enough so that it will keep out rockets and airplanes. Build it to China so no one can dig under it. Pretend we are the only people alive in the world. And pretend the constitution doesn't really say what it really says. Ah, the world of make believe!! Most people left it behind when they grew up. But not ME. You know it's a boondoggle when it's sold as protecting children I always get a kick out of academia and the media in their efforts to appear more enlightened to the unwashed masses by promoting programs such as the DREAM Act are once again being played the fools by the powers that want illegal aliens in this country. Wake up Mackenzie, illegal aliens and their "anchor babies" are a plague on our once great country. FW - Don't lump all teachers in the same category. I am a teacher and I am NOT in favor of the DREAM act. The Dream Act gives illegals more reason to implicate their kids (and other peoples kids) in crossing the border and breaking the law. Providing them with additional benefits can only make the problem worse. Bob says he is not in favor of programs which protect kids. I wonder why that is? Bad playground incident? kids, we are looking out for our own kids in this country not foreigner kids who's parents are not here legally, if i am going to take care of people it will be Americans who are legal citizens and belong here not illegal imagrants, i have no problems with immigrants, i have a problem with illegal immigrants, i am not racist, i have dated women of all nationalities and have friends from all over the world who are contributing to this country in the college systems that our states have to offer , and when they come to this country they speak about 3-4 different languages, not just mexican, adn i say mexican cause spanish and mexican and tex mex are all 3 very different languages. The neverending immigration debate surely is an interesting one... interesting in the complete absurdity of the majority of the arguments made. Perhaps instead of sitting behind a desk in a comfortable house in the 'burbs, one should actually analyze WHY such a large number of people feel the need to risk everything to come to a place where the majority of the people speak English (note that the US has no official language) and to a culture that hates and stereotypes them to the point of insanity. Why do people come here? Mexico is a very poor country, and it is getting poorer? Why? Farm subsidies, the WTO/World Bank/IMF, and NAFTA. The WTO, as it often does, dictated to Mexico that it stop subsidizing poor farmers in exchange for vital economic loans. The US, the driving force behind the WTO, still subsidizes massively its agriculture. Factor in NAFTA, which eliminates trade tarrifs, and poor Mexican farmers cannot possibly compete with American goods. What do we do about that? Factories move across the border for cheaper labor, creating some jobs, but soon move on to places like China for even cheaper labor. Mexico is left with no agriculture and no manufacturing... what is there? The US and globalization are directly responsible for the mass suffering of the Mexican people. Until some very unpopular political decisions are made, such as ending farm subsidies to American farmers, it is silly to fault people for wanting to live out their one and only life in a way that is more dignified than abject poverty. To demonize people for not wanting to suffer is absurd, but it must be easy to be absurd when one is lucky enough to likely have been born in a wealthy country. Want to end illegal immigration? Walls don't work. Tell the US government and people to stop screwing the world over with hegemony and gluttony. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, like the Dream Act. Totally agree with you, Jay (2:53). Let's take care of our own kids, not the illegal aliens. Wow! I am amazed at the comments posted in opposition to the views of an articulate, compassionate person. Whatever happened to Give Me Your Tired Your Poor, Your Wretched Refuse Yearning To Be Free? What is clear is that none of you pseudo Constitutional "scholars" deserves to be in this country! What else is in the Constitution? Black people are worth a fraction of whites? It's o.k. to use semiautomatic weapons to hunt deer? (FYI, you're obviously wrong on that one, folks! But I like the unanabashed ignorance that is inherently evident in such anachronism.) Grow up! Realize that the Constitution is -- and was always intended to be -- a living, evolving document. Why else is it constantly being interpreted? But you already know this. When convenient, you will argue a literal reading (like here); other times you'll try to "modernize" the message (regarding guns). But, hey, it's o.k. so long as the gloss that's put on the text at any given moment helps to justify hatred and intolerance for others. ... That's the underlying theme, isn't it? You're all intolerant jerks! By the way, what else is in the Bible? That homosexuals are evil? I just love how you morons like to argue that a holy book gives you license to hate others. You're no better than the extremist Islamic Fundamentalists who use the Koran to justify mass murder. That's right. Religion as a tool to hate. It goes well with your Constitutional interpretation. Good for you!!! ... Just disgusting! Lee, You are a first class, party line, arrogant, flaming liberal moron. Can't you smallbrains come up with anything new? If you want to see intolerance, look in the mirror punk. I couldn't be in stronger agreement with Ms. Forsythe, and I am another US citizen that supports the DREAM Act. It is confusing to see that people believe the DREAM Act "rewards" those who migrated to the US without documents. Indeed, this law would only effect those who can prove at the age of 15 that they have been in the US for at least the past 5 years. What ten year old risking his or her life to cross the border, with or without parents, could be deemed "rewarded" by the possibility of a continuing education?Why do we believe our government has such limited resources to fund education that it would eliminate one student's possibilities in favor of another? Why do we believe immigrant students are blame-worthy while, as Kyle so meticulously illustrates, our government is more than complicit in creating mass migration to the US? Thank you, Kyle, for illustrating the the root causes of immigration. We need a humane approach to address this issue on its many different levels. Rethinking free-trade agreements would be a pivotal step in this process. In the mean time, we need law that deals with the suffering we have created. The DREAM Act will let young people live out their full potential and take part in the American Dream. I fail to see how the DREAM Act rewards "bad behavior." This letter does not condone illegal immigration - in fact, it does not even address it. That being said, many children are brought to this country by parents immigrating illegally - when you're two years old, you don't exactly get a say in where your family goes. What is the current percentage of high school drop-outs in the Hispanic population? Does the answer to this question tell you anything about how many could actually qualify for this globalist, liberal, destroy the USA scheme? Jay, did you know they have medications that help overcome paranoia? Thom Challenger wrote, the Dream Act "rewards people who have endangered their children and violated the laws and customs of the United States." That's entirely misguided. Your opposition to the the DREAM Act punishes not the people who have violated the law by coming here illegally, but it punishes their children, who who were brought here by their parents and had no say in that decision. They are here innocently by virtue of their parents' choices. Furthermore, the children who are elligible to receive in-state tuition -- after overcoming all of the hurdles required by the proposal -- have earned in-state tuition just as much as any citizen child. Their parents have paid state and local taxes and support the local economy through their increasing purchasing power and contribution to the labor market. They are no less deserving than any other child born in the U.S. Many people in this debate fail to realize that children who will benefit from this legislation might be the kids next door or down the street... their parents pay taxes that support the public education system-- just like you!!! It's ok Jay.... Anonymous 10:35 A.M. has nothing worthwhile to contribute. He/she just likes leveling mindless insults. Question: Why are American Citizens obligated to pay up for the sins of our past administrations? The American citizen argued like hell if I remember against NAFTA. What power does the ordinary Joe have over the WTO/World Bank/IMF, the Feds etc.??? We were a voice in the dark and totally ignored. NAFTA was put in place. I say" hell NO!" A Government derives power from the people it governs. If the people truly do not want things like NAFTA and the WTO destroying third world countries to enrich already wealthy ones, then it does not have to be so. When people like Bush, Bush Jr, and even Clinton are elected, it sends a clear message that the people of the United States could care less about the Mexican people. Until the US stops policies that are meant to hurt the Mexican economy for selfish interests, then hating "illegals" is silly. Would you want to spend your entire life in such a situation, or would you do whatever you could to make something better for yourself? I know it must be hard to imagine the true nature of poverty from the perspective of an overly rich nation, but have a little common sense. The people or Mexico and other poor nations are not at fault. Life shouldn't have to be a lottery, where your place of birth determines your prospects for a decent life. Well done, Kyle. Thanks. It won't affect A's thinking, in my opinion, but it is good mental fodder for those with open minds.
And what the hell is the Dream act, another drain on our limited education funds for American children, that it.
Maybe a reduction of 50% of teachers wages could help fund this misguided program. But "only" if they cared about the children.
Here is the deal: For any child to get this special consideration for an American education the illegal parents must pay a $10,000.00 fine, they must return to their country of origin and register with ICE as a resident alien in the USA, they must surrender all current fraudulent or forged ID documents they are using to live in the USA, they must submit to a thorough background check for ALL family members, they must all be fluent in English and/or sign up for English language classes to be fluent in 1 year, and there must be no criminal history or future criminal activity on the records of anyone of them for the education arrangement to remain in effect.
I think this is a fair compromise.
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HERE IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD AND READ THIS CAREFULLY :The provisions in Section 1 have been interpreted to the effect that children born on United States soil, with very few exceptions, are U.S. citizens. This type of guarantee—legally termed jus soli, or "right of the territory"— does not exist in most of Western Europe, Asia, India, Sri Lanka or the Middle East, although it is part of English common law and is common in the Americas.
If Mexico refuses to pay up
Just cut all diplomatic ties and monies to the country and close the border period. Tourists can fly in only. Build the fence, the whole 2000 miles (cheaper than paying for the entire Mexican populations schooling and medical care) Start deporting whole familys no matter how long it takes. if the the constitution is right then, the anchor babies are not citizens anyway because their parents entered this country illegaly.
Send the illegals home. Change the laws so that babies born to illegals in the USA definitely do not get automatic citizenship. Claim 10 or 20 tax exemptions every year, but then don't file. Teach those here illegally that they need to change their own country, not sneak in here to take away benefits that citizens deserve and they do not.
Now shut up and let the adults talk!
What the DREAM Act would do would provide conditional resident status to high school graduates IF they meet all the requirements:
a) They have to give proof that they came to the U.S. before they were 16.
b) They have to have been here for 5+ consecutive years.
c) They have to graduate from high school or get their GED.
d) They have to exhibit outstanding moral character.
By meeting these requirements, the DREAM Act allows them to gain lawful employment (something these students cannot do now) and apply for citizenship six years down the road after they complete at least two years of college or serve two years in our military.
The DREAM Act would be a legal route to residency for young adults who did not make the choice to be here. If you're against the unlawful employment of immigrants and the stealing of social security numbers, it seems that supporting this act would alleviate some of these problems. I'm not saying it's a cure-all, but it's a step in the right direction.
So now, something the American people didn't want in the first place makes it tough on the people from other countries involved, we are asked to take it in the a** and provide a living, schooling, health care for them and their children!
To the "Dream Act" I say "hell NO"