Educate all of America

During last Thursday’s nationally televised GOP debate, Rick Perry essentially said that anyone who doesn’t think it necessary to provide a state college education for an illegal immigrant doesn’t have a heart. Well, Rick Perry, while I do (surprisingly) agree with you on that, I also have to say that anyone who does not want to do so is also probably lacking access to a good chunk of his or her brain power.

Let me briefly give you the Sparknotes version of the college-education-for-illegal-immigrants situation: Right now, most public universities do not ban illegal immigrants from attending, per se. Instead, the federal government and many public universities and state governments only offer illegal immigrants full-freight costs without opportunities for financial assistance, indirectly preventing them from having access to college.

The DREAM Act (or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) has been on and off the table in the U.S. Senate and state legislatures since 2001, and has been passed in Texas, New York, and Illinois. (Similar legislative measures have been passed in 10 other states as well.) The bill would grant six years of conditional permanent residency to undocumented students meeting certain rigorous and demanding criteria, allowing them to receive in-state tuition from public universities and thereby afford a higher education. This is an extremely long and rigorous process that would not just grant “amnesty” to any illegal immigrants, as opponents claim. Additionally, after the six-year period of conditional permanent residency, college graduates would be eligible to apply for permanent residency and become citizens.

Many, naturally, are opposed to such measures. Plenty of Americans do not want to see their hard-earned tax dollars paying for an illegal immigrant’s “anything”—be it garbage collection or emergency health care, let alone an expensive college education. Others think such a law would encourage more individuals to illegally cross American borders to obtain a free education. I do understand this position. But, I must beg individuals with such opinions to reconsider.

The cost of providing an illegal alien-student a college education is worth the price for America’s government, citizens, and public universities. First, we can consider the DREAM Act from a social standpoint. Given our positions as students—the peers of those illegal immigrants seeking the same opportunities that we have ourselves—we must reflect upon the very value of a college education.

For many of us, college is more than a means to an end—more than a ticket into the upper tier of America’s job market. We find our interests and passions, hash out goals, make lifelong friendships, become successful social animals, and learn to interact with people at all social levels. I believe that our time on campus is not only preparing us for the job market, but is also making us more invested and productive U.S. citizens because we are an extremely socially aware campus, no doubt in part thanks to our position in New York City. Last week saw hundreds of students protesting against the execution of Troy Davis, and against CIRCA’s dinner with Ahmadinejad because of the scores of human rights violations he has committed. If opponents to the DREAM Act are worried that its beneficiaries would be mooching off of U.S. taxpayers, they should think again. If Columbia students are any example, educated college graduates, regardless of their citizenship status, are more invested and aware of the social, economic, and political systems they are a part of than people without college degrees.

In choosing to educate illegal immigrants, we are maintaining the democratic and free principles on which the U.S. was founded while improving our country’s cultural and economic fabric. We need to face the fact that illegal immigrants are here to stay, even if we keep trying to prevent them from staying out of the country, and we must deal with them proactively.

From a purely economic standpoint, college graduates tend to commit fewer crimes and can afford to pay for their own living needs compared to those without degrees. In addition, the DREAM Act would allow college graduates to attain well-paying jobs and to eventually become tax-paying citizens, providing the government with more tax revenue. In fact, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the DREAM Act could cut the deficit by $1.4 billion and increase government revenues by $2.3 billion over the next 10 years. When we can increase national success by eliminating a permanent, artificial underclass of unfulfilled individuals, we would do well to seize the opportunity.

If even Republican GOP candidate Rick Perry can defend his decision to pass and promote a Texas-version of the DREAM Act in one of the most conservative states in the nation, and in one of the states that is hardest on and most critical of illegal immigrants, the nation should follow suit. Providing deserving illegal immigrants a college education through the DREAM Act would not be a cost to the country. Rather, it would be an investment that the U.S. is making in its welfare in the same way our college educations are investments we made in the interest of our own welfare.

Jessica Geiger is a Columbia College sophomore. She is an associate copy editor for Spectator. State of the Student runs alternate Thursdays.