We will either make illegal immigrants illegal or stop pretending.
For years we have argued against illegal immigration while providing taxpayer-funded benefits here illegally. When life in the US becomes so kind, many people choose to leave on their own. The logical first step: Stop providing free public education to those who have illegally entered the country. That policy is flooded with language confusion, cultural fragmentation and administrative tensions in our schools.
Refusing illegally to free education to people in the country is not a punishment. It refuses to provide benefits to those who have not filed legal claims against them.
Tennessee is the first state in recent memories moving in the direction of sanity.
Last Thursday, the Tennessee Senate passed SB 836, sponsored by state Sen. Botson (R). The original bill would have required the district to verify legal residence before students could register them. The revised version offers the option of denying school districts registration for illegal immigration or charging a base tuition fee of $7,000 per student.
The building passed 19-13 But it wasn’t before seven Republicans joined all six Democrats and voted to continue the illegal alien free lessons.
Companion Building, HB 793, is passing through the house. That version is even more stringent. It gives the district the authority to completely deny entry and requires them to report undocumented students to the state. Both bills allow families to remain in their resident position, pleading for denial. But very importantly, both also include opt-out provisions. This means that districts with large, illegal populations such as Memphis and Nashville may choose to not enforce the law at all.
target: Plylerv. Doe
This should be simple. It is dishonorable to continue to provide free tuition fees to children with illegal immigrants. It’s all due to the 43-year-old Supreme Court decision. Without court intervention, they would have called for action decades ago. In fact, Texas acted until Judge William Brennan invented the constitutional right to taxpayer-funded education for illegal aliens in a 1982 decision. Plylerv. Doe.
This ruling contradicts the long line of Supreme Court precedents dating back to the 1880s. For more than a century, the courts have consistently determined that illegal foreigners stand outside our legal boundaries until they are recognized as legal status. In other words, they are not entitled to reserved constitutional protections for citizens or legal residents.
Even if they embrace the questionable logic of judicial hegemony, the state has every reason to put forth a fresh challenge. The Supreme Court has moved to the right from the days of Brennan activists’ benches. It’s time to put it Preller Return to the chopping block.
If Republicans really believe that illegal immigration must end, they should act accordingly. That means removing any incentives to stay here illegally. Reducing free benefits should be the first step, not the last.
But too many Republicans still treat education as another sacred category. Senate Speaker Protem Ferrell Hale, a Republican from Gallatin, voted against the Tennessee bill and tried to justify his position. Misuse of Ezekiel 18:19: “Children do not share parents’ guilt, parents do not share children’s guilt,” he said, “We believe that parents’ cheating is punishing children.”
Haile’s reasoning is flawed. Refusing illegally to free education to people in the country is not a punishment. It refuses to provide benefits to those who have not filed legal claims against them. If the goal is deportation, why should they subsidize their continued presence? No one suggests jailing the child for the actions of his parents. We are proposing Send them home.
Republicans have argued they support President Trump’s immigration agenda. But if we are going to eliminate illegal aliens from the country, it makes no sense to pack public schools with hundreds of thousands of non-citizens who need expensive language and academic support. The only children punished under this system are children of American citizens. Our elected officials are the children whose loyalty they are.
Uncertain fate
If Haile and other lukewarm Republicans in the Red State feel very strongly about illegal alien education, they can open schools overseas and personally fund them. But they have no right to do it at the expense of American families.
So far, only Texas, Indiana, Idaho and Ohio have implemented similar laws. It seems that all of these invoices are likely to pass. Other red states, like Florida, face constitutional hurdles that make it difficult to deny public school admissions to people living in the state, regardless of their legal status.
Even in its bouncing form, the fate of Tennessee’s bill remains uncertain. Gov. Bill Lee (R) has not yet announced whether he will sign. Like many Republican governors, Lee often talks tough, but controls the soft. He is not known for supporting strong immigration enforcement.
If he rejects the bill, conservatives may not have the two-thirds of majority needed to override him, thanks to the multiple GOP exiles. He remained silent while the legislative session took over the bank towards the end of next week. There was no time for the house to pass that version and harmonize with the Senate.
With the federal government’s massive deportation efforts stagnate, the Red State needs a standing deterrent. The next time Democrats take the White House and unleash a fresh wave of illegal immigration, we need policies in place to keep that flood away from a state of still valuing sovereignty.
This starts at the end of the incentive. In particular, taxpayer-funded benefits, such as public education. Having illegal aliens use the same resources as citizens will send you the exact wrong message.
