Federation for American Immigration Reform's opposition to in-state tuition laws

¶ … Federation for American Immigration Reform's background website regarding various state-based initiatives allowing qualified illegal aliens to pay in-state tuition rates.

All children in the United States is entitled to a primary and secondary public education, regardless of their citizenship and immigration status. However, once they reach college, illegal aliens are required to pay the tuition rate of foreign, international students. This places higher education out of the reach of many children of undocumented aliens.

To address this problem, the states of Texas, Utah, Illinois, New York and California passed laws giving undocumented immigrants the right to pay in-state tuition rates at the state's public colleges and universities. This option is available to students who graduated from a state high school and have been residents in the state for at least three years.

The laws are also contingent on a student gaining admission to the universities.

The law also includes a provision that will enable undocumented alien students to apply for permanent residence status at the earliest time possible

Conclusion

Anti-immigrant groups like FAIR are vocal opponents of these laws, and have previously argued for stronger immigration controls. This website argues that proposals to grant in-state tuition for illegal immigrants should be opposed and those laws already in effect should be repealed.

Assumptions

The FAIR reasoning rests on several questionable assumptions. First, the group assumes that in-state tuition laws come at the expense of legal residents. FAIR believes that allowing aliens to pay in-state tuition rates will somehow limit higher education opportunities for United States citizens. The group also assumes the laws represent an unfair burden on the state taxpayers. Finally, FAIR assumes that such laws are in violation of federal immigration laws, and are therefore illegal.

Ambiguities

The website makes several other ambiguous and unsupported claims in relation to their position. They state, for example, that "admitting and subsidizing illegal aliens, in effect, punishes citizens and legal residents who have done nothing wrong themselves." They do not show, however, how allowing illegal aliens access to education "punishes" legal residents.

The website also makes the ambiguous claim that such laws promote illegal immigration.

Values Conflict

According to FAIR, the values in conflict in this issue a child's right to an education vs. The need to somehow "protect" the rights of legal citizens and to uphold the laws regarding citizenship. FAIR believes that subsidizing the college education of undocumented aliens infringes on the rights of the law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens.

Fallacies

These values only seem in conflict, however, because of the fallacious reasoning and assumptions made by FAIR. The organization, for example, maintains that in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants is an unfair burden to the state's taxpayers. The group, however, neglects the fact that undocumented aliens themselves are also taxpayers. Those who work in the community pay withholding taxes, even though they are not entitled to collect benefits. Illegal aliens also pay sales taxes on their purchases. Those who own houses also pay taxes on their property.

The FAIR website also falsely assumes that states will fare better fiscally if these students are kept out of college. However, this neglects the fact that without the benefit of a college education, many of these students will become an even bigger problem for the state later on, as long-term welfare dependents.

Young people with the benefit of higher education become qualified for professional careers. In the long run, they will contribute more to their communities, as tax-paying physicians, lawyers and educators.

Thus, the in-state tuition laws do not give the undocumented students an undeserved free ride. Instead, it gives them a chance to become productive, contributing members of the community.