DREAM Act - A nightmare from Hispandering politicians
The University of Georgia has begun its fall semester, summer break is over, and 4,495 freshman have begun their first year of college life.
The cost of attending college in our nation is increasing faster than the rate of inflation and many proud Georgia families struggle to pay the current UGA annual tuition cost of $4,272. That figure is the "in-state" rate - what a Georgian will pay to attend. If a student from Tennessee, South Carolina or any other of our United States enrolls at UGA, they must pay the "non-resident" rate of $15,588 - a difference of more than $11,000 a year.
Summer recess has now ended for Congress as well and that body is soon to begin debating which of the many bills and proposals will become American law. One of them, if passed - and then enforced - could have a notable effect on who pays what for a college education in our nation.
In the Senate, there is a bill that the students and tuition-paying parents
mentioned above will find more than a little interesting. It is SB 1945 - The
Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors [the DREAM] Act, along with
its House version, The Student Adjustment Act [HR 1684].
In an apparent effort to leave no illegal alien behind, the DREAM Act is a proposal that in addition to providing eventual amnesty to many illegal aliens, would allow those illegal aliens to attend American public universities at "in-state" tuition rates.
Stated in a different way than the authors of this little gem would like you to hear it, the DREAM Act would allow an illegal alien living in Georgia who comes from, say, Mexico, to attend UGA at a cost less than an American citizen from Chattanooga or Charleston. Further, an illegal alien can pay the cheaper tuition rate while a legal, real immigrant would still have to pay the higher non-resident amount.
Who says crime doesn't pay?
In the Senate, the bill, introduced last year by Orin Hatch (R-Utah) and Richard Durbin (D- Ill.), now has 15 cosponsors, and many politicians have expressed their support for this little-known scheme.
You can be sure that if passed, this is one of those laws that will be enforced.
Remember all of those illegals "just looking for a better life" that we see all over Cobb, Atlanta and Georgia? State Sen. Sam Zamarripa (D- Atlanta) tells us that they numbered some 20 million nationally last year. The 2000 census tells us that 70 percent of them come from Mexico. Having escaped apprehension at our porous border and made their way into America somehow magically transformed them from criminals into a political resource for many elected officials. Those politicians are not only ignoring the law that requires such people to be rounded up and deported, in a search for Hispanic votes, they are actively looking for ways to meet the illegals' demands to be given the same rights as citizens - with our tax dollars.
I call it "Hispandering."
I am going to call Sens. Zell Miller and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Rep. Johnny Isakson (R-east Cobb) to ask them what they call it.
I wonder how many parents writing tuition checks will do the same?