Posted on 03/01/2009 8:40:37 AM PST by george76
A bill to allow illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state college tuition may have the best chance of passing in years because of the support of some key Colorado Republican businessmen.
The latest effort, pushed by state Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, would allow illegal immigrants ... to get the in-state tuition rate at state colleges and universities, which would save the undocumented students thousands of dollars. The bill is scheduled to get its first committee hearing Thursday.
A bill passed last year clarified that U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants are Colorado residents and thus eligible for in-state tuition. Romer's bill is aimed at foreign-born children who enter the country illegally with their undocumented parents.
Similar bills have been proposed before, but Romer said what's different this time is the public backing of some heavy-hitting Republicans in the business community.
Those include Dick Monfort, co-owner of the Colorado Rockies and chairman of the University of Northern Colorado Board of Trustees, which has endorsed the legislation. Alex Cranberg, chairman of Aspect Energy and a top GOP donor, also supports the bill.
Stan Weekes, state director of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, which favors tougher restrictions on illegal immigration, said the bill is unfair to American students from other states who have to pay the higher tuition.
"Do we open it to my nephew in Nebraska to come in with the same in-state tuition?" Weekes said.
Ten states, including Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah, have passed legislation to offer the in-state rate to undocumented students; 30 states have considered such legislation since 2001, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
This year, Colorado is among five states considering such a law.
Arkansas and Missouri are considering bills to prohibit illegal immigrants from getting in-state tuition.
(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...
FREEP THIS POLL ***PING!*** FRmail me if you want to be added or removed from the Fearless Poll-Freeping Freepers Ping list. And be sure to ping me to any polls that need Freepin', if I miss them. (looks like a medium volume list) (gordongekko909, founder of the pinglist, stays on the list until his ghost signs up for the list)
You seem to think you have all the answers. I know a little bit more than you give me credit for. It has nothing to do with what I have heard or believe and everything to do with the experiences I have had, as a Hispanic who has traveled throughout the country working with the Hispanic communities on Disaster preparation plans.
In all fairness I don’t watch Spanish language TV. I don’t watch TV much, so I don’t know what is portrayed. I do know that Hispanics in the communities I work with are hard working, anti-illegal immigration, and strong Catholics. They haven’t been indoctrinated into socialism, they see it as being responsible for the appalling conditions in the countries they left. I can’t tell you how much I hear them say that they left their own countries to escape socialism, and to find the land of opportunity. They do not want this country overtaken by socialists.
I work in the communities, and I talk to large numbers of Hispanic people. Many see the Republican party as the anti-Hispanic party. There are times I don’t really blame them. So many see legal Hispanic immigrants as a threat to our country and its culture. So many fail to recognize the immense contributions that Hispanics have made to this country. There is no reason that I see that legal Hispanic immigrants shouldn’t be welcomed into this country. As long as Republicans believe that there is, they will continue to vote for Democrats. It has consequences. Barack Obama is just one of many.
Do you think all graduates from Colorado high schools should receive in-state tuition?
Total Votes = 1189
yes
41.54 %
no
53.74 %
I don’t know
2.859 %
I don’t care
1.850 %
“I do know that Hispanics in the communities I work with are hard working, anti-illegal immigration, and strong Catholics.” Hear here! My experience as well. There is a thuggish class of illegals who prey off of the folks we’ve come to respect as US though from Hispanic background. We all would do well to realize no criminal element should be able to cause US to reject hardworking, legal, fellow residents.
Do you think all graduates from Colorado high schools should receive in-state tuition? (Read Related Story)
Total Votes = 1232
yes 41.31 %
no 54.05 %
I don’t know 2.840 %
I don’t care 1.785 %
Too bad the Denver Pravda survived, instead of the RMN.
The compost should have gone first.
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Well, more than 10 percent of the Mexican population now lives in EEUU. How would Mexicans feel if that many Chinese, in that large of a segment, moved to Mexico and began demanding Mexicans change the way they do things, and that Mexicans provide them with welfare benefits, free schooling for their children (try getting into UNAM as a foreigner without bribing someone), free medical care and “affordable” housing? These benefits are entitlements for legal immigrants to the U.S., and are provided at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Wonder how the Mexican taxpayer would accept that situation? Many Hispanics who were born in this country, to parents who were born in this country, to grandparents who were born in this country, you get the idea, feel the way I do. Our new Hispanic residents might not, as you say, want this country overtaken by Socialists, but you certainly couldn’t tell it from their public rhetoric, or from the way they vote. They elected BO, who is a Socialist; they elected a MEChA mayor of LA; don’t get me started on the corrupt hell hole that is South Texas. The newspaper and television coverage of the presidential election, in Spanish, was even more biased than the Wash Post or MSNBC. Bottom line is, this country was not founded by, nor was it shaped by Hispanics. Hispanics ideas did not inform the Constitution, nor did they shape our legal system or our system of public education or our notions of private property. There is much about Spanish culture and my family background that I love and cling to, but I do not kid myself about the kind of societies it produces, having lived in two of them. I do not have all the answers, but when someone says that the 20 million or so non-native born Hispanics who are here, the vast majority of whom were peons before they crossed the border, are similar to Anglo Republicans, I figure that person does not know what he is talking about. You apparently enjoy the taste of the Kool-aid, so I really can’t tell you anything, can I? When even one in 10 Hispanics is a Republican, Cubans excepted, get back to me.
I was talking about LEGAL immigrants or citizen Hispanics. Your first post indicated that legal immigration should be decreased. I disagree. Legal Hispanics are much different from illegals. I don’t like the two used interchangeably. I don’t know what an Anglo Republican is, but it doesn’t sound like a term that will be helpful in relating to minorities. Republicans are conservatives who reside legally in the US, and have beliefs in small government, hard work, the Constitution, and taking responsibility for the well being of self and family. Race should not be part of that definition.
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