Breaking: Colorado House Fails Undocumented Youth, No To In-State Tuition - Page 2
The over-riding argument against passage was the fact the students, through no fault of their own, are “illegal”. If Colorado approves in-state tuition, then Colorado will become a mecca for undocumented immigrants.
The argument is based on ignorance about what compels undocumented workers to come to Colorado in the first place. For most of them, it is hunger and poverty beyond comprehension that forces them to risk their lives in a border crossing on their way to one of the wealthiest states in the wealthiest nation in the world. It is the privilege of the rich to chose places to live based upon their parent’s aspiration for their children. The parents of undocumented youths come to feed their families, not find the best place for their children to matriculate.
Sadly, Colorado Republicans may have pounded the last nail in the coffin for many Colorado colleges. With the state scrambling to make up for massive cuts in education, undocumented youths could have added a critical $4 million dollars in college tuition. To the extent some colleges may close or classes be canceled, the Republican vote to maintain education for citizens and permanent residents who “have done it the right way” may have in reality killed the chance of an education for even citizen children.
"Over the past year people from across Colorado have sent tens of thousands of emails and letters into the legislature urging them to support Colorado ASSET, seven newspapers from all over Colorado have endorsed Colorado ASSET. Yet, our legislators still have a difficult time finding their way to ending an unjust system," Jenny Kraska, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference. Kraska is on the Higher Education Access Alliance (HEAA) steering committee which helped write the proposed law.
The Republican vote is a continued slap in the face to foreign investors from South of the border seeking friendly places to invest their funds because of an undeclared war in Mexico. The state of Arizona recently failed a new round of anti-immigrant laws in 2011 because the reputation of the state as anti-Latino had cost businesses billions of dollars after passage of the most conservative anti-immigrant law in history, SB 1070, which went into effect in July of 2010. Voters are close to having adequate signatures to recall Arizona Senator Russell Pearce who continues to sponsor anti-immigrant legislation. The Republican Party's declared war on undocumented workers is proving costly, a lesson some members of the Colorado House had taken into account when they cast their party line votes.
Follow Technorati