The Loud Talker

Today I read an article written by Jeff Jacoby at the Boston Globe that had to do with how conservatives “have got it wrong” about illegal immigrants and college tuition. Like so many other emotional people, his arguments center around a victim mentality, not around what is right, fair and just.

Jacoby cites an example of a Brazilian student in Massachusetts who’s parents entered America illegally. He then says: “Her classmates can attend the University of Massachusetts, paying $9,704 a year in tuition, the price tag for Massachusetts residents. She [an illegal immigrant] can attend only if she pays the out-of-state rate of $22,157; if that’s more than she can afford, she’s out of luck.”

Somebody call the wahmbulance, I think I might cry myself to death.

There is nothing in the constitution that states that everyone gets a college education, never mind an affordable college education close to mommy and daddy. If this nice Brazilian high school graduate wants to go to a state school in Massachusetts, she needs to pay out of state tuition, period. Her parents broke the law to enter our country, and her children need to suffer the consequences of their mistake and their unwillingness to correct that mistake during the past 18 years. If she can’t afford the college of her choice she can do what thousands, if not millions, of college students do every year and borrow money to go to college.

My opinion is based on my own college experience. For my chosen major I had three solid schools to choose from that were at the top of my chosen field: University of Miami (FL), Eastman University (NY) and North Texas. In the early 1980s the annual out of state tuition for these three schools was $12,000, $13000, and $4000 respectively. North Texas was actually less expensive than in-state tuition at UConn. Where did I go? I went where I could afford to go: North Texas. And I still had to use student loans to pay for school. Who says that students get to choose everything they want? Nobody. Tough it up, deal with it and move on. Not everyone gets a trophy. (as a brief aside: At the beginning of my sophomore year North Texas tripled its out of state tuition rate. Did I march outside and protest? No, I went to class. So to all of the whiny California students moaning about a 32% tuition increase: I suggest you swing by Starbucks on the way back to those classes that your parents are probably paying for and pick up a cup of Shut The Hell Up.)

Jacoby loses me for good with this statement: How is Massachusetts improved by making it impossible for an accomplished high-school graduate, a lifelong resident of the state, to gain a university degree?

Um, Jeff? Isn’t that a little dramatic? She can choose from hundreds of schools, colleges and universities all over America, as well as the rest of the world. She simply cannot get, nor does she deserve, the discount afforded to legal citizens that live in Massachusetts. Students in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine have to pay out of state, so should the girl actually from a place more than 4,000 miles away.

Jacoby rightfully says that the problem “can only be solved by overhauling our dysfunctional immigration laws, not by demonizing or scapegoating illegal immigrants.” He then makes the  generalization “those immigrants didn’t come here in order to be lawbreakers; they broke a law in order to come here.” Well, I think most of them come here for a better life, but there is plenty of evidence that a significant percentage of those crossing the border are here to do no good at all.  While the following stats are a couple of years old, they still mean a lot to me:

• In 2006, twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens (4,380 in 2006). (source)
• Thirteen Americans were killed every day by drunk illegal alien drivers (4,745 in 2006) (source)
• Eight American children were victims of sexual abuse by illegal aliens every day (2,920 in 2006) (source)
• There are about 240,000 illegal immigrant sex offenders in the United States who have had an average of four victims each. (source)

So while I can understand Mr. Jacoby’s perspective I think his is an emotional argument, not a practical one. Enforce our borders, enforce our existing immigration laws and fix our broken immigration system. At the end of the day life is not fair, and sometimes when you are 18 years old things don’t go your way. But in America you have choices, whether you are here legally or not. Make the best of it, quite whining, or go live somewhere else.