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Georgia Looks to Defund Benefits, Tuition for Illegals NewsMax.com Wires Trying to tackle the challenges of the state's booming, young immigrant population, Georgia lawmakers are preparing to debate an issue that many consider critical to the integration of immigrant communities - access to higher education. While only the federal government can handle border control, Georgia and other states are trying to have their say on what government benefits immigrants can get and therefore control how appealing their state is to the hundreds of thousands of foreigners who come into the United States every year, legally or not. Republicans seem to be backing down from legislation that would have barred undocumented immigrants from all public services, including K-12 education - which is federally mandated. Instead, Republican Sen. Chip Rogers of Woodstock has pre-filed a proposal for the upcoming legislative session that would stop state universities from granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants, regardless of how long they have lived in Georgia. "If a benefit requires Georgia residency, you must have proof that you're a legal resident - that applies to somebody from Alabama or Guatemala," Rogers said. In response, Sen. Tim Golden of Valdosta, chairman of the Senate's Democratic caucus, and Sen. Sam Zamarripa, D-Atlanta, promptly pre-filed legislation that would let the board of regents of Georgia's university system set admission policies.
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"Our state has a long-standing policy that the board of regents is independent of government, because of a history of race relations," Zamarripa said. "The very few who make it to the top, (Sen. Rogers) wants to punish them." The board's policy is to grant in-state tuition to anyone who has lived in Georgia for at least a year before enrollment, without determining immigration status unless a student asks for a visa, said board associate vice chancellor Arlethia Perry-Johnson. Whether a student gets in-state tuition or not can determine whether he or she can afford to go to college. For example, at the state's flagship campus, the University of Georgia in Athens, the average in-state tuition is $4,628 per academic year versus $16,848 for outstate tuition. The proposals affecting whether illegal immigrants can attend Georgia's public colleges are expected to lead to some heated debate during the election-year session that starts Jan. 9. Gov. Sonny Perdue, who is seeking re-election in 2006, has declined to comment on where he stands on either proposal. While nobody knows exactly how many students would be affected, the National Council of La Raza estimates there are about 65,000 undocumented high school graduates who have lived in the U.S. at least five years and are planning to attend college, said Melissa Lazarin, La Raza's education policy analyst.
In Georgia, more than 60 percent of all Latinos are younger than 30, and one in 14 students in the state's public schools is Latino, according estimates from La Raza, the largest U.S.-based Hispanic advocacy group. If the Republican-backed plan to prohibit in-state tuition for illegal immigrants is made law, it could be the first in the country. Nine states have passed laws that extend those benefits to illegal residents, though in two - California and Kansas - the law is being challenged in court by American students. The DREAM Act was also reintroduced in Congress in November to give some college-bound students a path to legal status. Should that pass, any contradictory state law would be null, said Sam Myers, an immigration law expert in Minneapolis. Both sides agree that a lot more than a tuition benefit is at stake. Even though some scholars argue that such benefits don't affect where illegal immigrants settle, restrictionists want to protect Georgia from becoming a haven for them, while advocates warn immigrants could desert the state, damaging the economy. "If all of this happens, we're going to say, 'Don't come to Georgia,'" said Teodoro Maus, the former Mexican consul in Atlanta who has remained here as an advocate for Latinos. Ultimately, Sen. Rogers denies that his bill has any ethnic or racial implications, but rather simply asks the state to obey federal laws, which mandate that non-U.S. citizens have visas to attend college. His target is illegal immigration, which he says hurts both legal immigrants and U.S. citizens at school and at work. But analysts and advocates argue that, without an overhaul of federal law, illegal immigrants - who now outnumber legal immigrants nationwide - will continue to be a key part of the economy, filling low-skill jobs for which getting a visa is extremely difficult. They say restricting access to a college education amounts to killing this group's chance of ever moving out of poverty and integrating into U.S. society. A Pew Hispanic Center report issued Dec. 15 found that "only college-educated immigrant workers are likely to converge to the status of white workers in the course of their working years." Because many children of illegal immigrants are poor and their status prevents them from working legally and receiving federal loans and grants, in-state tuition is often their only shot at affording college, Lazarin said. "After years of exclusion and discrimination, instead of doctors and engineers, you'll have gangs and unlawful acts," said Adelina Nicholls, president of the Atlanta-based Coordinating Council of Latino Community Leaders. Maus, the former Mexican consul, believes the proposed legislation would end the American dream of breaking through class systems. "If you don't give access to education, you're damning them to stay in the lowest echelon and you break the history of openness of the United States," he said.
© 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note:
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