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Can't Ask, Don't Tell: Paying for Alien Students

Domenick J. Maglio, Ph.D. Neo-Traditionalist

Even though they are not American citizens we are paying on the average of $10,000 for a student’s public school education. There are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of these children who are draining the finite amount of money we have available for our own children’s public school education.

The culprit for this outrageous policy is no one in particular but everyone in general. Homeland Security requires all foreign students entering the USA to fill out an I-20 student visa form to attend school. Their guardians have to document their ability to pay for a private school education and show a valid residence for the year. They strictly enforce their regulations holding the private school accountable for the students admitted on the I-20 visa. This I-20 visa demonstrates the foreign student will not be a burden to our public schools or social services.

Unfortunately, these students who enter on a legal visa do not necessarily fulfill their obligations. The public school’s hands are tied in complying with Homeland Security’s regulations. Even though a student has an invalid I-20 or has entered America illegally public school officials cannot ask him for any information concerning his immigrant status. This creates a loophole that makes our nation less secure.

The school boards throughout the United States are ordered not to request any documentation of any student’s legal status. The Supreme Court decision, (Pyler vs. Doe, 1982) established nationwide that schools are prohibited from asking for any information concerning the immigration status of students. Florida Consent Decree (The League of United Latin American Citizens vs. The Board of Education, 1990) confirmed this ruling for the state. All state funding in Florida schools is based on the total number of students attending Florida schools. Our public schools have no way to determine which students deserve the right to taxpayer dollars for American education.

Homeland Security’s mission is to protect America. The recent Montana University case of the eleven non-reporting college students made national headlines. Universities are required to notify Homeland Security when these students on I-20 visas do not appear at school. Everyone was alerted to foil a potential terrorist act. All the students were eventually accounted for several days later.

This agency has the same responsibility for junior and senior high school students. Young people are often easily influenced with their underdeveloped moral code making them good targets as terrorist recruits worldwide. The fact is Homeland Security no longer has the tools to carry out surveillance of these illegal aliens. There are times when one branch of government impedes another from doing what is right. Our branches of government need to work in unison to reach their objectives.

There is a disconnect between the functioning of the executive branch of Homeland Security and the judicial branch represented by the Supreme Court. One branch is mandated to apprehend illegal immigrants while the courts are establishing rulings that make it impossible to even track potential student terrorists.

We, as a free people and great nation, must have an open debate to determine what should be our national priorities to effectively protect our nation.

Why are we paying for the education of illegal immigrant children when our educational system is constantly arguing for more dollars? The judicial rulings that prohibit local school districts from requesting legal documentation of student’s status is an incentive for more foreign families to send their children to the USA to obtain a free and better education and open up an avenue for terrorist groups to infiltrate our borders. It is a disincentive for citizens who are already fed up with paying inflated school taxes to pay even more.

There is no entitlement for citizens of foreign countries to prosperity in the United States. Only people who enter our country legally have a right to the American dream. We cannot provide every person in the world with this opportunity without destroying our social fabric and depleting our national resources.

Our society has been built on the backs of legal immigrants who have contributed more to this country than they have taken away. There is no free ride in life. Every person entering America has to do it the right way “paying their dues” for us to be a strong, viable nation. The ability to be a self-made person is only possible because we live in a country where the individual is encouraged to achieve to the fullest of his or her ability.

Our children deserve no less than what we were given.