Illegal Immigrants To Receive Student Loans

[Jack]

If this bill passes:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 459047.htm

[aic712]

great......

[SteveFoerster]

It only applies to kids who graduated from California high schools, and thus were brought here as children. It doesn't apply to people who came here illegally as adults.

-=Steve=-

[Jack]

Illegal immigration is a complex issue and I won't pretend to have a lock on it. Personally, I have a very mixed reaction to the general issue. On the one hand, my own family came from another country (didn't we all?) and there were no restrictions at that time. At the same time, I don't know if you can simply throw the doors open and allow anyone and everyone into the country, especially if it winds up costing the taxpayers lots of money. At the same time, I don't mind saying that if I lived in Mexico/Central America I would be among the first to cross the border if I thought that I could make a better life for my family. However, I also don't mind saying that it irks me that I'm having trouble putting money aside for my children's college education, partly because my taxes are so high. I really don't think that my obligation to people I've never met actually supercedes my obligation to my own family.

On a more abstract level this is also about the law and our regard for the law. It's difficult for me to avoid the conclusion that if we are going to finance the higher education of the children of illegal immigrants (in addition to all the other benefits they already receive) then it essentially renders the concept of illegal immigration to the realm of the absurd, and our regard for the law goes along with it. On a certain level this issue seems similar to that of illegal drug use. We're not going to stop it regardless of the expenditure of funds. There are complex moral principles embedded within the issue that may well result in irreconcilable differences of opinion. Should we continue to throw money to stop a process that won't be stopped? Perhaps we should just open the borders and let the market decide when enough is enough.

My guess is that once the leading edge of the baby-boomer generation begins to retire and collect Social Security, there will be a drastic shift in the attitude of the tax-paying public. The relatively small number of people who will be forced to support a growing number of retired persons will become increasingly intolerant of having to also pay large portions of their income to those who choose to break the law. I am not referring solely to illegal immigrants, I am also referring to US citizens who commit major crimes. Prisons are already overcrowded and I predict that there will be a wholesale shift in the attitude towards criminal sentencing. My prediction is that crimes such as drug possession/sale will cease to result in prison terms and some drugs may become legal. I also predict that there will be a substantial shift toward the death penalty as taxpayers become increasingly unwilling to support criminals in long-term incarceration.

I apologize for pulling this thread off-topic. It was not aimed at Steve or anyone else in particular. It was just a late-night rant at the end of a long, hard week.

[SteveFoerster]

It was not aimed at Steve or anyone else in particular.

Actually, I agreed with most of what you said. I disagree that suport for executions will increase, though, since evidently the process makes them more expensive than life imprisonment. But I'm with you that jailing people who commit victimless crimes is expensive and immoral, and I hope ultimately it becomes a historical relic.

-=Steve=-

[Jack]

OK, so I'm continuing to drag this thread off-topic by posting this article related to the cost of enforcing a specifc "victimless crime."
http://blog.wired.com/biotech/index.blo ... id=1559124

[Carl_Reginstein]

OK, so I'm continuing to drag this thread off-topic by posting this article related to the cost of enforcing a specifc "victimless crime."
http://blog.wired.com/biotech/index.blo ... id=1559124

Right on Jack.

The "War on Drugs", also known as the "War on the American People", that has been continued and accelerated by the asswipes in office today has delivered an uncountable amount of damage to otherwise normal, law-abiding, and decent citizens of what once was a great country. The fact that marijuana is STILL illegal, and apparently becoming more so every day, after all these years, and all the lack of evidence of damage.... is..... simply.... amazing.

I know back when I first encountered the drug in the early 1970s I couldn't imagine it still being illegal once our generation "took power" - but there you have it. Betrayed, backstabbed, and sold out by politicians from Gore to Clinton to Bush jr.

Sickening....

[Siniestro]

I wonder what is the reasoning behind writing such a law. Perhaps they are foreseeing a lack of educated people (knowledge workers ) for the short term future. Here in Europe there is at the moment a very strong demand for highly educated people. Perhaps it is the case of America too. Otherwise, I don't understand the purpose of this law.