Federation for American Immigration Reform's Background Website

¶ … 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proposals to grant in-state tuition for illegal immigrants should be opposed and those laws already in effect should be repealed. Reason FAIR presents three main reasons in support of its position.

First, the group maintains that allowing illegal immigrant youth access to higher education will necessarily limit opportunities for United States citizens and legal residents. Second, FAIR holds that this law places an unfair burden on the states' taxpayers. Finally, FAIR reasons that state laws allowing in-state tuition rates for illegal aliens are violate several provisions of federal immigration laws. Thus, according to the group, such tuition measures are illegal. 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.