Democrat-Gazette picks up where it left off in 2005, endorses SB799
The Sunday editorial in the statewide daily endorses Senator Joyce Elliott's bill to allow for the children of undocumented aliens who graduate from an Arkansas high school to attend Arkansas colleges and universities at an in-state rate. It also backed a similar bill in 2005 authored by Sen. Elliott and pushed in part by Governor Mike Huckabee. That bill failed in the Senate after passing the House.
It's a bold step for the state's largest newspaper. I've probably received over 500 e-mails on the bill in the last couple of weeks, and I don't think I've received one in favor of it. Sen. Elliott calls it the "Rosa Parks issue of our time." Although this is on a much smaller scale, today's editorial will remind some readers of the last time a statewide daily took a similar stand when the Arkansas Gazette's progressive editorial stance on the 1957 LR Central crisis brought with it a devastating hit in subscriptions to that newspaper. No one can validate that point better than my dad, who carried the Gazette on an Arkadelphia route on his bicycle during this period as a 13-year old. As part of his job, he was required to collect money from subscribers. Some of the things he was told on their doorsteps aren't fit for this blog, but suffice it to say that many of them merely canceled on the spot and sent word with him on what they thought of the paper's position.
Yes, the dynamics are different here. The legal arguments are centered around a federal statute, namely 8 U.S.C. § 1623. That statute is cited by then-Attorney General Mike Beebe (AG Op. 2005-054 -- click here) in response to a 2005 request by Jim Holt and states that "an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen of the United States is eligible for such a benefit." Reasonable minds can and have differed as to whether this bill conflicts with that statute. The public policy arguments focus mainly on fairness vs. the "rule of law," but the coming debate on the bill will include an array of issues from the benefits of educating these graduates to immigration policy and the message such a state law sends. Here in Texarkana, graduates on the Texas-side of town are eligible for in-state tuition to that state's colleges and universities regardless of citizenship status. Same for neighboring Oklahoma. A state appellate court in California ruled last fall that that state's law allowing the children of undocumented immigrants living there to pay in-state tuition conflicts with the aforementioned federal statute. Few people are on the fence on this one. SB799 will come up for a vote on the floor of the Arkansas Senate this week.
It's a bold step for the state's largest newspaper. I've probably received over 500 e-mails on the bill in the last couple of weeks, and I don't think I've received one in favor of it. Sen. Elliott calls it the "Rosa Parks issue of our time." Although this is on a much smaller scale, today's editorial will remind some readers of the last time a statewide daily took a similar stand when the Arkansas Gazette's progressive editorial stance on the 1957 LR Central crisis brought with it a devastating hit in subscriptions to that newspaper. No one can validate that point better than my dad, who carried the Gazette on an Arkadelphia route on his bicycle during this period as a 13-year old. As part of his job, he was required to collect money from subscribers. Some of the things he was told on their doorsteps aren't fit for this blog, but suffice it to say that many of them merely canceled on the spot and sent word with him on what they thought of the paper's position.
Yes, the dynamics are different here. The legal arguments are centered around a federal statute, namely 8 U.S.C. § 1623. That statute is cited by then-Attorney General Mike Beebe (AG Op. 2005-054 -- click here) in response to a 2005 request by Jim Holt and states that "an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen of the United States is eligible for such a benefit." Reasonable minds can and have differed as to whether this bill conflicts with that statute. The public policy arguments focus mainly on fairness vs. the "rule of law," but the coming debate on the bill will include an array of issues from the benefits of educating these graduates to immigration policy and the message such a state law sends. Here in Texarkana, graduates on the Texas-side of town are eligible for in-state tuition to that state's colleges and universities regardless of citizenship status. Same for neighboring Oklahoma. A state appellate court in California ruled last fall that that state's law allowing the children of undocumented immigrants living there to pay in-state tuition conflicts with the aforementioned federal statute. Few people are on the fence on this one. SB799 will come up for a vote on the floor of the Arkansas Senate this week.
posted by Steve Harrelson @ 3/29/2009 03:18:00 AM | Permalink |
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