While Donald Trump vacillates on DACA, some South Dakota Republicans want to punish young people who were brought to America illegally by their parents who now want to further their education.
Senator Stace Nelson (R-19/Fulton) has proposed Senate Bill 103, a measure that would prohibit the Board of Regents from admitting any “alien who is not lawfully present in the United States” or granting such an alien any financial aid.
Perhaps 250 South Dakotans are DACA recipients. At least one of them attends a South Dakota public university. Senator Nelson’s bill doesn’t affect DACA recipients right now and wouldn’t affect them if Congress renews DACA, since those young people would all be present lawfully.
But suppose Congress fails to renew DACA. Let me ask you: who is harmed by a young person who grew up in America attending one of our public universities?
Senator Nelson thinks we taxpayers suffer some harm:
Sen. Stace Nelson, R-Fulton, the bill’s sponsor, said the proposal aims to ensure that the schools are turning over students who entered the country illegally and taxpayers don’t foot the bill for their education [Dana Ferguson, “South Dakota Colleges Could Ban Undocumented Students Under Legislative Proposal,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2018.01.23].
The Board of Regents submitted a report to GOAC (on which Senator Nelson serves) in July saying the “fiscal impact of admission of undocumented students is negligible.” If Senator Nelson is really concerned about the use of taxpayer dollars to educate illegally present students, isn’t Senator Nelson morally and logically obligated to expand his bill to demand that our K-12 public schools also turn away any student who can’t present proof of citizenship?
For the first and perhaps only time in my life, I’m inclined to ask why, oh why, can’t Stace Nelson be more like Rick Perry:
Texas, in fact, was one of the first states to admit undocumented students into its higher-education institutions. Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, a staunch conservative, signed a law in 2001 agreeing that if a student graduated from high school in Texas and had lived in the state for three years, they deserved a chance go to public college—and the state deserved a chance to improve its future economy. In Texas, 25,000 undocumented students are currently able to take advantage of in-state tuition, translating to 2 percent of students enrolled in higher-education institutions there, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Of those 25,000, 28 percent are in universities and 72 percent are in community colleges [Matt Vasilogambros, “The Folly of Under-Educationg the Undocumented,” The Atlantic, 2016.03.16].
What did Texas get for letting undocumented students into its public universities? Oh, just a cohort of exactly the kind of motivated, skilled students that a workforce-poor state needs to rise to the challenges of the modern economy:
“The business community recognized the need to get these kids through college,” says Rebecca Callahan, an associate professor of education at the University of Texas, Austin. “We are facing an economic future in Texas where we have a good portion of our young population that’s not going to college. As a society, we need as many of our young people to go to college and be as educated as possible”
Callahan’s research has found that students who are bilingual and biliterate, as many undocumented immigrants tend to be, are more likely to graduate high school and enroll in a four-year college. “They do see themselves as very American,” she says, describing undocumented youth as engaged, highly motivated students. “They’re really, really excited about being in school and very aware of what a privilege it is to be in college. If we’re looking at more and more students coming up through the pipeline who we don’t tend to educate well, we’re putting ourselves at a huge disadvantage through bans” [Vasilogambros, 2016.03.16].
Like too many of his colleagues, Senator Nelson is looking at narrow ideological talking points instead of the bigger picture of our educational and economic interest. However many undocumented students are studying at our universities are doing us no harm. They’re probably studying harder and working harder to stay out of trouble than a lot of documented frat boys majoring in beer. And I’ll bet that not one South Dakota-born student has lost either admission to SDSU or financial aid because an undocumented student crowded her off the roster. In return, we get more graduates with the skills to do jobs that we don’t have enough locals to do.
Senate Bill 103 runs counter to South Dakota’s practical self-interest. Vote NO on SB 103.
Related: Senator Nelson is also sponsoring Senate Joint Resolution 2, which would ask us to expand the definition of the “militia” to include “any able-bodied person residing in the state.” With SJR 2 alongside SB 103, Senator Nelson appears to say undocumented immigrants are good enough to draft but not good enough to educate.
Stacey Nelson is a bigot and a racist. Likes to display his minority wife to prove he’s not like the guy who says he’s not a racist because he has a black friend.
As long as they can’t vote or their descendants can’t I am fine with that.
Cory, when are going to post about the FBI/DOJ scandal that is unfolding?
Lying to the FISA court is a big deal and I haven’t seen you post about that.
Jason, I take it from your comment (and your effort to get off topic) that you agree that there’s no harm and plenty of good in allowing the students targeted by this bill to continue to seek higher education in South Dakota.
(It sounds like you don’t need me to to post about the “unfolding scandal” that you mention, since you’re already hearing plenty about it from some other, more nationally focused source.)
Cory,
The people who read your website seem to be very uninformed. I thought you would want to help them out so they aren’t ignorant about the scandals.
As for this topic, I forgot to mention that they shouldn’t receive any Federal or State dollars for attending since they are not citizens.
Can I double post here – something I put on my Facebook in response to the Nelson bill??
I’m in the UK legally and have a student visa residency card. Had to show bank statements initially to get the visa that prove I had money to live here. My visa expressly says…. no public funds. I can only use NHS national healthcare because I pay annually into it. The university is free for Scottish students and there are high numbers of international students here because we pay tuition. I’m not sure what constitutes apples for apples with US immigration and border crossing but don’t think for a moment to USA is cruel to her immigrants, illegal or otherwise. Unlike most in the GOP I do support a path toward citizenship because in some cases to deport ruins families. But I don’t support the many who are in the states not to assimilate but to leach from the generosity of America only to turn around and spite her. That is not the immigration the country was built on. That is to spit on the welcoming words that greet legit immigrants at Ellis Island. Christians need to discern the difference and not emotionally and naively support those politicians exploiting the immigration issue to gain 1-2% more Democrat voters.
The link has a picture of my card that says “no public funds” – is the UK racist? Quit playing the race card! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155352887903087&set=pcb.10155352887978087&type=3&theater
Jason seems like the guy who says he doesn’t want to use any federal funds to help people coming to the U.S. because they aren’t citizens, but he thinks the “war on terror” is a great way to spend billions of dollars every day because somebody told him to support the troops, regardless of the fact that we are just burning cash on foreign soil for non-citizens with no benefit to our people or country. And then he seems like the guy that says we shouldn’t spend any money on non-citizens, but also doesn’t believe in helping american citizens in need, either. It’s their own fault they are in need, right!? No help for anybody, they should have been born lucky like me!
And Steve Hickey – leaches are the biggest problem for most governments, and it seems like more leaches were born and raised on American soil than those coming from the countries trump can’t pronounce or locate on a map.
DACA students ARE legal residents. They are registered with the federal government (and pay a yearly renewal fee); they are NOT eligible for federal financial aid of any kind. They can work, and they can buy goods and services, and thus pay taxes on the federal and state level. If they commit any kind of crime, they are out immediately. None of the DACA Dreamers are what Mr. Hickey describes as “the many who are in the states not to assimilate but to leach from the generosity of America only to turn around and spite her”. Over 900 of them serve in our military; for all of them, America is their country, and for most the only one they’ve ever known. This bill is gratuitously cruel not to mention paranoid.
Oh, and Cory – don’t feed the trolls.
Thanks, Eve. Truth is very difficult for some people to accept. DACA provided legal status in return for the right to work and the right to pay taxes. That is probably the only segment of the population that happily goes off to work and pays taxes.
So I wonder: just how many illegally present aliens are in the university system right now? Has anyone demonstrated any significant harm that justifies enacting a new law that requires the Board of Regents to implement a new layer of bureaucracy that will slow down admissions for everyone?
I do think you’re talking apples and oranges, Steve. You arrived as an adult. You chose to enroll in a foreign university. You probably plan to return to your home country. Here, we’re talking about a number of young people who may not have applied for DACA status but who were brought here by forces beyond their control and who may well have no other place they can call home. Why complicate their lives?
And why conscript universities to do the job of the federal government in enforcing immigration law? Maybe that’s the real gouging of taxpayers going on: Senator Nelson’s bill would require South Dakota taxpayers to surrender resources to do work they’ve already paid federal taxes for the federal government to do. That’s double taxation! And we don’t even get a return on that money the way we get a return from the money we use to support college students.
Let universities teach; leave it to the government to enforce its immigration policies.
[Yo, Jason! You got topics you want people to know about but that you don’t see sufficiently covered in the media? Do what I did: start your own blog!]
Careful, Jason—the federal and state government give all sorts of money to educate people who aren’t citizens, and we benefit from that investment.
Eve/Donald – absolutely correct! The DACA folks/taxes collected from them are substantial.
http://immigrationimpact.com/2017/04/28/daca-beneficiaries-pay-billions-taxes/
I’ve become a One World advocate, just from hearing my daughter’s visa stories. Let people go wherever they want.
My daughter has been in the People’s Republic of China more or less continuously since 2005, and deals with visa issues, too. It used to be people would find a fixer, pay a little fee and you got someone to give you this or that visa renewal. It was a little sketchy, but that’s how things worked. Things got tightened up a while back, requiring her to periodically leave the country. Ex-pats quickly figure out how to short-circuit the system by just flying to Hong Kong, going in a few miles, turning around and coming right back in. It’s down to less than a day for her to get another renewal, and most of it is flight time from Beijing to Hong Kong and back.
She got sick once and got free health care, a benefit of living in a semi-communist country. Free health care is another thing that I would require in my One World world. She did have to pay money for classes at Tsinghua University, though.
We all know that what’s really behind this bill is that Sen. Nelson is serving his masters at the many big feedlots in South Dakota. They don’t want illegals getting an education. They want them working slave wages off the books throwing slop to the piggies.
The coast is clear, Steve. I don’t think anyone’s going to bring petition fraud charges against you if you come back. But you may want to hold off until Randy Seiler is AG just in case.
Remember MLK said subsidies are welfare for the wealthy.
“But I don’t support the many who are in the states not to assimilate but to leach from the generosity of America only to turn around and spite her. That is not the immigration the country was built on. That is to spit on the welcoming words that greet legit immigrants at Ellis Island. Christians need to discern the difference and not emotionally and naively support those politicians exploiting the immigration issue to gain 1-2% more Democrat voters.”
Am so inspired by this magnanimous paraphrase from the Sermon on the Mount:
“,You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Is that young couple married? Why are not the overgodders trying to smite them with hate?
David, you humor me. Rather than post an text that you think is watertight to support your politics, give us instead an exposition on how to ethically resolve the tension that exists in these complex situations where obedience to loving your neighbor and loving your enemy are at odds. We have an obligation to both. Yet if I love my enemy, for example by letting them take advantage of my neighbor, am I not acting unlovingly toward by neighbor by neglecting my responsibility to prevent them from being exploited or harmed?
BTW, I don’t see the undocumented as my enemy. A thorough study of the words involved in these vital Sermon on the Mount text reveals the neighbor/enemy distinction is really about the compatriot and the foreigner.
This here I will address to Donald. If the religious talk is a turn off to anyone, wade through it anyway. It is important we listen to each other and for you to better understand how a Christian can be against open borders and the universal love of utopian one-worldism.
Christians too share the hope that one day the world will come together under the leadership of a good and just King of all kings. Until that day, Christians rightfully resist ushering that day in on our own, with a human ruler of any flavour. The Bible warns against the global governance of a such a human sort.
Can we agree the overarching contention in the world today, geopolitically, is between the globalists and the nationalists? Donald, you admit you are a globalist. I’m more of a nationalist. But don’t rush, as many do, to the ill-informed assumption that I’m speaking of ethnic nationalism. I’d consider that a great great evil as well. I’d argue Donald Trump is not an ethnic nationalist and this is why it’s just wrong to align him with nazis. Making America Great Again isn’t ethic nationalism. Our greatness is in our goodness and generosity (possible by our prosperity). God told Abraham he would make him into a great nation. That was not a racial promise, not an ethnic claim. He was speaking of blessing a nation so it could be a blessing. It is in this sense that many of us cheer on talk of making America great again. We lose our greatness when we lose our goodness.
I’d argue God has no issue with nationalism, in fact, it is part of the glorious diversity of humanity that he created and calls good. Various people, various traditions and cultures to be proud of, etc. It’s beautiful. It was his plan all along… to raise up a nation and a company of nations. He didn’t rebuke the tribes for separating in the wilderness into segregated camps each under their own tribal banner. He told them where to be, and spoke over them specific tribal destinies and callings. One can imagine the rivalries between the tribes to be like the jokes our friends from Rosebud make against their distant kin on Pine Ridge. All the way into the eschaton, there remain national and tribal distinctions. So, this utopian one-worldism that so many are inclined to today can’t be justified theologically or Biblically. We see walled cities and discerning gatekeepers being part of God’s protection for his people long past the end of this present age.
The naiveté of well-intentioned, utopian, one world thinkers is evident simply by considering the impossibility of bringing together the many millions of Islamists who hold a world view that the infidel other can’t co-exist with them. Back to the Bible, for one-world rulership to work, religion has to be turned toward that ruler and away from any other gods.
My son lived in Hong Kong for a while and did the runs into China. Myself, I’m all over Europe in a given year seeing first hand these globalist european rulers backtracking on their ill conceived open border policies. In 2017 I was in both India and Russia to do research in the Gandhi and Tolstoy archives – each nation presenting challenging visa issues. So I understand why you long for easier movement between nations. But to get each place I’m thankful for customs and airport security to make it all a bit safer. It’s not because I’m xenophobic or racist, it’s for the same reason I lock my door at night. Security.
O, and free healthcare. I pay into NHS here which is “free” to the nationals of Britain, Scotland and N. Ireland. Did you see in the news that NHS just cancelled 50,000 scheduled surgeries here? That sucks if you have a troublesome gall stone as do I. Also, in my own situation, last spring I developed an active inflammation in my upper right lung lobe and the Mayo-Rochester docs said I needed to be rescanned immediately. Docs here said NHS would not authorise a second scan within a six week time frame. People in my condition can die in a couple weeks with an active inflammation. Had to fly home for scans. I’m fine but you see my point. Another anecdote, the beds here are small and uncomfortable compared to American beds. We don’t roll over as much and my wife developed shoulder and hip arthritis pain. Docs wouldn’t schedule her for an appointment but rather sent her to a website to do exercises for six weeks. After that period she was then put on a waiting list for 3 months to see a specialist. We do like our “free prescriptions” though.
Ror, remember, Stace Nelson bows to no master. His helping block a hog feedlot near Fulton and embarrassing Ag Sec Walt Bones in the process in 2011 is a big part of why he’s in the GOP doghouse.
However, you are correct to posit that SB 103 would in effect support any efforts to keep workers illegally present in the country from gaining education and thus increasing their economic options.
Mr. Hickey, you neglected to state that the surgeries that have been delayed (not cancelled, according to the NHS) were (1) non-urgent surgeries (2) because of the flu epidemic – because it would have been more dangerous to go in for non-life threatening surgeries because you very well might get the flu. But continue on… Some of us are aware that other countries have smaller beds, smaller rooms, and non-private rooms – in fact, there are a lot of wards in British hospitals. We’re not used to it, but they are. In any case, it still beats going bankrupt over healthcare. It still beats paying over $700 a month for health insurance, as I do (private, not on ACA).
Re your comment that “A thorough study of the words involved in these vital Sermon on the Mount text reveals the neighbor/enemy distinction is really about the compatriot and the foreigner”, not to most of us. Or to Jesus, because otherwise I strongly believe He would have said so. Instead, what He said was that the hated foreigner, the Samaritan, was the man to imitate. And He said, over and over again, love your enemies. Period. I have heard many “Christians” of late twisting the words of the Sermon on the Mount, and the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, and many others to prove that they don’t have to help, love, or care for anyone but those in their own church community, and that they can ignore the dire needs of the poor, the widows, the orphans, the refugees (forgetting that our Savior was a refugee Himself). I’m sorry, but I find it all selfish bunk. Matthew 5 says what it says. If you don’t want to do it, admit it. But don’t try to say it’s about innies and outies.
Eve – you aren’t understanding what I wrote there about the words neighbor/enemy.
I’m not so much concerned about the morality of the nation state as an institution. Nations can be good and bad, and both at the same time. And we aren’t going to be able to get rid of nation states anytime soon, but anything that can decrease the negatives associated with nation statism should be done.
It’s the economic inefficiency created by all the bureaucracy involved in people living on earth in these nation states that’s gotten a bit ridiculous. First of all there is war over borders and territory. WWI and WWII ought to have taught us something about that, but apparently not. Then there is this: just to live in Beijing requires a round trip plane ticket and a day out of her life every three or six months. She also has to register her address at the nearest constabulary. Now that doesn’t take too long, so why can’t that suffice? You just say, “I live here now. If I move, I’ll let you know.” No need to fly out and back in in a day.
For much of its history, America had few restrictions on immigration. That’s what made America great. If we wanted to Make America Great Again, we might return to that model. And it had nothing to do with immigration being from “white” parts of the globe. Immigrants from Central and Southern Europe weren’t considered “white” when they came here. Jews, of course, were not considered “white.” Catholics, even from Ireland, faced discrimination in the same manner that Muslims are facing by our Republican-complected brothers today.
My daughter follows the law in China. She doesn’t want to overstay her visa, because then she becomes an “illegal.” So she engages in this fake leaving the country ruse just to stay legal. But China has other arcane laws about people from the countryside not being allowed to be full residents of Beijing. So they are “migrant workers,” easily exploited by companies that make our computers and Trump’s ties.
The Hispanic families of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, etc. were there before there was a United States, before there were territories, and before statehood. As one put it, “The borders moved; we didn’t.”
Meanwhile, the thing with the Dreamers is this: name me one other situation in which we call for children to be punished for the crimes of their parents.
…”name me one other situation in which we call for children to be punished for the crimes of their parents.“
Eve: Abortion in the case of rape. We execute a child for the crime of its father.
Ever met a rape baby? Incredible redemption stories mostly, adoptions, love and humanity.
When I hear abortion of any sort referred to as reproductive *justice* I shudder at the mockery of justice it is for all involved.
Let’s not forget war, Mr. Hickey. We, the United States, are currently bombing Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, and Afghanistan, etc. The children who die in that are, apparently, collateral damage, and no one mourns except their families. Not even people who see abortion as murder.
But Steve Hickey: Abortion places the child in the hands of god and in eternal bliss while bypassing the pain of having to endure stupid schoolteachers and politicians and the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. It should actually be a crime to make kids go through all that.
Should be a capital crime for wingnuts to force babies to be born and then not supply them with adequate food, shelter. public education and basic healthcare at the same time transferring all wealth to the top.
Bob Newland writes:
I believe God probably saves some aborted children. It would obviously be possible, since the Bible indicates pretty clearly that Christ and John the Baptist were sanctified in their mothers’ wombs.
In any case, the thirteenth chapter of Romans suggests government should generally avenge crimes of aggression such as theft, violence and defamation, and I’m not sure it would be wise to make exceptions based solely on the eternal destinies of victims.
Perfect solution to Mr. Nelson’s demand. This would not only increase our population but it would also increase our needs for better state government. Two birds with one stone Mr. Nelson.
cj bakken
@Eaglewoman4
As a Native American I just had an epiphany about undocumented DACA people. How big of a coronary would trump and ryan have if the tribes welcomed the DACA folk onto the reservations, affording them protection under the sovereignty of the tribes……
I love CJ bakken’s idea.