Estimates of English as Second Language education costs in Harrisonburg Virginia ? $3000 per student.

I wasn’t clear on the estimate, so I called the superintendent of the Harrisonburg school system, Mr. Donald Ford, a very nice man who works hard to do the job of teaching the students in his charge.

It is $3000.00 per student. Per year!

Mr. Ford’s comment to me a few minutes ago was that because of Plyler vs Doe, he is no way of knowing how many of his students are illegal. He did remark that educating the non-English speaking students “puts tremendous stress” on his school system.

From channel WHSV TV news in Virginia:

The Harrisonburg school system is among the top in the state in a category that poses a challenge.

38% of Harrisonburg students are classified as English as a second language or ESL students.

School Superintendent Don Ford estimates it costs 3,000 dollars more to educate each ESL student, and Harrisonburg has more than 1,600.

“What we have said is that as long as that number continues to increase it’s going to require additional resources for us to maintain the quality of the programs that we have,” says Dr. Don Ford the School Superintendent for Harrisonburg.

Most of the additional cost is paid by the city, not the state or Federal government

This bit of information led me to a Pew Hispanic report with this info:
Undocumented Students

In the U.S. there are 1.7 million undocumented youth under age 18,(4) with approximately 1.3 million having lived in the US for 5 years or more and enrolled in K-12 schools in the year 2002.(5)
1.5% of all children PK-5th are undocumented, and 3% of youth grades 6-12 do not have legal immigration status.(6)
About 80,000 undocumented immigrants turn 18 each year. 16-20% of them fail to complete high school.(7)
Only 1 out of every 20 (5%) of undocumented high school seniors attends college.(8)
Of undocumented high school graduates who have lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years, only 20% enroll in post-secondary education.(9)
Those who graduate from college cannot work legally in the U.S.(10)

I’ll let you know when I find an official estimate figure for the added cost of educating illegals – I mean non-English speakers – in Georgia.

Until then, sit back and understand the rich blesing that illegal immigration is to our state and nation.

It is a federal felony to employ illegal aliens. Here is the law.

Basic Pilot enables employers to verify employment elegibility of newly hired employees.

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Bureau (USCIS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) are jointly conducting the Basic Pilot Program. The Basic Pilot Program involves verification checks of the SSA and DHS databases, using an automated system to verify the employment authorization of all newly hired employees.

The Basic Pilot Program has been in operation since November 1997. Legislation signed by the President on December 3, 2003, extended the Basic Pilot Program until November 2008, and expanded the Basic Pilot Program to all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

An employer’s participation in the Basic Pilot Program is voluntary, and is free to participating employers.

Users can access the Basic Pilot Program from any Internet capable personal computer. The program is Windows based and a web browser of Internet Explorer 5.5 or Netscape 4.7 or higher is required (with the exception of Netscape 7.0).

Some features of the Internet version of the Basic Pilot Program include: online-registration, reporting capability for users, and availability of the system 19-hours a day. Participating employers have quick and easy access to on-line resources such as the Basic Pilot User Manual, the Basic Pilot Tutorial, and the Handbook for Employers.

The DHS-USCIS and the SSA continue to recruit employers for participation in the Basic Pilot Program. To participate an employer must register and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that sets forth the responsibilities of the SSA, DHS-USCIS, and the employer. To view a sample of the MOU, click on the “View MOU Sample” bar below*.

If you need assistance in completing the MOU or need additional information relating to the Basic Pilot Program, please call the SAVE Program toll free at 1-888-464-4218.

If your company is interested in participating in the Basic Pilot Program, click on the “Begin Basic Pilot Program Registration*” bar show below. To leave the system, click “Exit.” Thank you for your interest in the Basic Pilot Program.

* Click here for access to links mentioned above

More info here.

This is a repost, because I am so tired of the “starving illegal immigrant” nonsense. I have been to the border…trust me, they are not starving and many are wearing designer clothing.

See here for info from that radical extremeist group…the Pew Hispanic Center.

A sample:

Washington, DC – The vast majority of undocumented migrants from Mexico were gainfully employed before they left for the United States, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report released today. The report suggests that failure to find work at home does not seem to be the primary reason that the estimated 6.3 million undocumented migrants from Mexico have come to the U.S.

It seems that the government of Canada decided – in October – against granting amnesty to its 200,000 illegal aliens [ we note that there was a time when we only had 200,000 illegals – in Georgia].

In a no brainer, the Canadian leader’s reasoning is that offering amnesty would “would encourage illegal immigration and it’s unfair to the hundreds of thousands of people who applied through legal channels and have waited patiently.”

Ahh…to have such a government in Ben Franklin’s Republic.

“We remain committed to protecting the integrity of the immigration system,” Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokeswoman Melanie Carkner said.

Maybe Jerry Gonzalez and Teodoro Maus will be rushing off to hold a rally for justice in Ottawa soon?

One more quote from the Canadian leaders: “Even a small increase in the number who decide to come here and stay here illegally based on the hope of regularization would simply recreate the very problem the (amnesty) proposal is supposed to fix.”

I wonder if the Canadians would loan us some elected officials for a few years…as Temporary Workers, of course.

Read the entire report here. Maybe send it to your elected officials in Washington?

From the Boston Herald:

Immigrant groups prepare big push for reform, are hopeful over the Democrats’ ascendance

By Associated Press
Thursday, November 16, 2006 – Updated: 02:53 PM EST

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – At a recent strategy session, Hispanic political activists debated ways to characterize the 700-mile fence along the Mexican border approved last month by Congress.

“Berlin Wall” was the language used in the meeting agenda.

“Better to call it the ‘Apartheid Wall’ because of the racial implications,” one man said.

“We should call it what it is – an extension of the ‘Tortilla Wall,”’ another activist suggested, referring to the derogatory name Mexican immigrants gave fences built around Tijuana in the 1970s.

With the Democrats set to take control of Congress next year, pro-immigrant groups are meeting around the nation to devise a new strategy to win amnesty for illegal immigrants, repeal of the Secure Fence Act and more visas for foreigners.

Activists say they have a better chance of gaining reforms under the Democrats than under the Republicans, but believe it will still require intense political pressure and efforts to mold public opinion.

IF you are not already signed up to take advantage of the FREE fax Congress service at NUMBERSUSA…please do it now, the illegal alien/open borders lobby has a similar service and will be doing all it can to convince Congress that “a path to citizenship” [ amnesty-again] is what should be done to stop illegal immigration.

You don’t need a fax machine, only the computer you already have. It is easy and painless….and it works!

Note – the below column was written for and originally posted on Insider Advantage Georgia, a subscription Website, Mr. Dick Pettys editor. Reposted here with permission.

We are very grateful to Insider Advantage for the space.

I have added a few hyperlinks to educate the reader.

Guest Column: D. A. King
Recent Exit Poll Question On Illegals Omits ‘Attrition by Enforcement’ Option
By D.A. King

(11/16/06) Although there has been no American president who has done less to remedy the situation than George W. Bush, the current illegal immigration crisis in the United States did not happen overnight.

The sad reality is that it will not be solved quickly or as the result of any single action…including building a badly needed physical barrier between the U.S. and Mexico. Elected officials, pollsters and frustrated citizens need to remember this undeniable fact.

Included in a widely publicized exit poll conducted by Edison Media Research/Mitofsky International from last Tuesday’s mid-term election was this question:

Should most illegal immigrants working in the United States be:

1) Offered a chance to apply for legal status

2) Deported to the country they came from

Many polls should be added to the old adage that “there are lies, damned lies and statistics.”

Too bad there was no question asking what should be done with the criminal employers who are allowed to flout the same rule of law.

Essentially, the wording created a choice between amnesty-again, or mass round-ups and forced deportations. This false choice does not reflect the reality of what has already proven to begin to solve the nationally suicidal problem of continued illegal immigration and employment.

Steady attrition of the illegal alien population by enforcement of existing laws is the answer omitted from this and most polls and discussions.

Securing American borders is only one essential step.

Nowhere is there more visible proof that enforcement – even the promise of future enforcement – of existing laws is an effective method of reducing the illegal immigration population than here in Georgia.

Referring to what became the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (SB 529), in December, former Atlanta Mexican Consul General Teodoro Maus was quoted by the Associated Press as saying “If all of this happens, we’re going to say, ‘Don’t come to Georgia,'” …meaning the future illegal border crossers.

SB 529 does nothing but mirror and comply with existing law using available tools.

Focused on illegal aliens already here, state Senator Sam Zamarripa had this observation in the spring on the attrition of the illegal population he realized would occur as a result of enforcement of SB529: “ It comes down to people saying that New Orleans is looking good”.

While the numbers of illegals in Georgia skyrocketed in the first five years of the decade, many are now looking for a more accomadating state in which to live and work illegally.

“Diego Castaneda, a real estate agent and loan officer in Norcross, Ga., had two clients — illegal immigrants from Mexico — who were a week away from closing on homes in Atlanta’s northern suburbs when they pulled out of their contracts,” the L.A. Times reported earlier this year in an article on the Georgia legislation’s effect.

“I’m leaving…to the north, maybe to Montana” was Norcross day laborer Orlando Rojas’ remark to an AJC reporter in May after getting a written warning from Gwinnett Police for loitering on private property shortly after the Georgia legislation was signed into law.

In 1986, we proved that amnesty and a chance to apply for legal status only encourages further illegal immigration and employment.

Illegal aliens are now leaving Georgia. Self deportation will occur nationally if we begin to enforce our immigration and employment laws . Like they do in Mexico.

Let’s try attrition by enforcement – it is the only thing we haven’t tried.

Too bad that concept was not included as a possible answer choice on the recent poll.

——————————————————————————–

D.A. King writes a column in the Marietta Daily Journal and is president of the Dustin Inman Society, a Marietta-based coalition dedicated to educating the Georgia public on the consequences of illegal immigration.

InsiderAdvantage, 4401 Northside Parkway, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30327 Phone: 404.233.3710, Fax: 404.233.6877
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Photocopying or reproducing in any other form in whole or in part is a violation of federal copyright law and is strictly prohibited without the publisher’s consent.
Dick Pettys, EDITOR

Ga. County Considers Fining Landlords
By Associated Press
6:22 AM PST, November 15, 2006

CANTON, Ga. — Commissioners in a suburban Atlanta county are considering fining landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, saying the immigrants strain the schools and other local resources.

The proposal would require property owners to prove their tenants live in Cherokee County legally. Landlords who didn’t comply could be fined or lose their business licenses.

Georgia earlier this year approved a wide-ranging crackdown on illegal immigrants, and cities in Texas, California and Pennsylvania have enacted laws to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants.

The Cherokee County ordinance would only cover unincorporated areas and would not apply to cities in the county just north of Atlanta.

Stay tuned…and if you live in Cherokee County, please come to Tuesday’s BOC meeting to support the brave Commissioners!
BOC Meeting
11/21/2006 :
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Board of Commissioners Meeting read agenda
LOCATION
Jury Assembly Room
Justice Center

Martinez hits ‘enforcement only’
By Stephen Dinan and Ralph Z. Hallow
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Sen. Mel Martinez, President Bush’s choice to become chairman of the Republican National Committee, said his goal will be to undo the election damage done by the border-enforcement-first message of most Republicans — which he called “harshness only.”

Mr. Martinez’s nomination — which must be approved by the RNC at its January meeting — is Mr. Bush’s first major political step since last week’s elections, and it is already creating division among rank-and-file Republicans, who say it puts the party on the wrong side of the immigration issue.

“I would say it’s another Harriet Miers moment,” said Randy Pullen, an RNC committee member from Arizona, referring to the doomed pick for the Supreme Court.

We hope that Randy Pullen is correct here…

Read the rest here.

U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) will become general chairman of the national Republican Party.

CNN: Martinez to become new RNC chief
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican elected in 2004, has accepted an offer by the White House to become the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, three sources tell CNN.

Yes…that Mel Martinez. The open borders, amnesty-again Martinez.

The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave

From Heather McDonald in the the City Journal 2004… [ “City Journal is the nation’s premier urban-policy magazine, “the Bible of the new urbanism,” as London’s Daily Telegraph puts it. During the Giuliani Administration, the magazine served as an idea factory as the then-mayor revivified New York City, quickly becoming, in the words of the New York Post, “the place where Rudy gets his ideas.” The Public Interest goes further, calling City Journal “the magazine that saved the city.”]

“Police commanders may not want to discuss, much less respond to, the illegal-alien crisis, but its magnitude for law enforcement is startling. Some examples:

• In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.

• A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the 20,000-strong 18th Street Gang in southern California is illegal; police officers say the proportion is actually much greater. The bloody gang collaborates with the Mexican Mafia, the dominant force in California prisons, on complex drug-distribution schemes, extortion, and drive-by assassinations, and commits an assault or robbery every day in L.A. County. The gang has grown dramatically over the last two decades by recruiting recently arrived youngsters, most of them illegal, from Central America and Mexico.

• The leadership of the Columbia Lil’ Cycos gang, which uses murder and racketeering to control the drug market around L.A.’s MacArthur Park, was about 60 percent illegal in 2002, says former assistant U.S. attorney Luis Li. Francisco Martinez, a Mexican Mafia member and an illegal alien, controlled the gang from prison, while serving time for felonious reentry following deportation”.

Hispanic advocates have helped blur the distinction between a legal and an illegal resident by asserting that differentiating the two is an act of irrational bigotry. Arrests of illegal aliens inside the border now inevitably spark protests, often led by the Mexican government, that feature signs calling for “no más racismo.” Immigrant advocates use the language of “human rights” to appeal to an authority higher than such trivia as citizenship laws. They attack the term “amnesty” for implicitly acknowledging the validity of borders. Indeed, grouses Illinois congressman Luis Gutierrez, “There’s an implication that somehow you did something wrong and you need to be forgiven.”

Illegal aliens and their advocates speak loudly about what they think the U.S. owes them, not vice versa. “I believe they have a right . . . to work, to drive their kids to school,” said California assemblywoman Sarah Reyes. An immigration agent says that people he stops “get in your face about their rights, because our failure to enforce the law emboldens them.” Taking this idea to its extreme, Joaquín Avila, a UCLA Chicano studies professor and law lecturer, argues that to deny non-citizens the vote, especially in the many California cities where they constitute the majority, is a form of apartheid.

Yet no poll has ever shown that Americans want more open borders. Quite the reverse. By a huge majority—at least 60 percent—they want to rein in immigration, and they endorse an observation that Senator Alan Simpson made 20 years ago: Americans “are fed up with efforts to make them feel that [they] do not have that fundamental right of any people—to decide who will join them and help form the future country in which they and their posterity will live.” But if the elites’ and the advocates’ idea of giving voting rights to non-citizen majorities catches on—and don’t be surprised if it does—Americans could be faced with the ultimate absurdity of people outside the social compact making rules for those inside it.

PLEASE read the complete article here.