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Dream Act passes in California
California Attorney General Jerry Brown speaks during a news conference in Los Angeles, Calif.
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Jeremy Hobson: Here in California, Governor Jerry Brown just made
it easier for undocumented students to access public funds. He signed the second half of California's version of the Dream Act, which is designed to help kids who were brought into this country illegally pay for college. Under the new law, around 2,500 students could qualify for financial aid from public funds.
Marketplace's Jeff Tyler has more.
Jeff Tyler: Twenty- two-year-old Justino Mora is a student at UCLA. He's won academic scholarships in the past -- but then donors find out he's undocumented.
Justino Mora: They call me and they tell me, "Look, the fact that you're undocumented, you know, we can't give you the scholarship."
The new law gives students like him access private scholarships and public grants. It could cost the state as much as $15 million.
Anjelica Salas is executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles. She says the law ensures that undocumented students are the last to receive public funding.
Anjelica Salas: They are going to have to wait until the financial need is met for U.S. citizens and people with legal status.
Unlike the federal Dream Act before Congress, California's version does not provide any pathway to citizenship. So even if students get financial help with college, it will still be illegal for them to work in this country when they graduate.
In Los Angeles, I'm Jeff Tyler for Marketplace.
With so many positive steps that could be taken to either reduce strained budgets or subsidize all students who are looking for a decent education and/or integration into the workforce, the Dream Act strikes me as more of a politically safe gesture than substantive progressive policy, and one that just so happens to please Corporate America in its constant search of more h2 visas and an oversupply of labor. As with mandatory health care without a public option: Another ostensibly progressive leader takes a pro-business stand and calls it progress.
Gov Jerry Brown is pouring more gas on what finances we have left for the State. As companies leave our great State in droves, we will not have the tax revenue to pay for this years expenses or folly's like this. By 2013 if not sooner, the state will have to file for Bankruptcy.
I'm torn about this. Sure it's better to improve anyone's education but as a taxpaying citizen I want my return on investment. If we're to foot the bill for these scholarships I expect those that receive them to join the workforce and contribute back to the US economy. If, for example, an illegal immigrant from say China receives their subsidized diploma in engineering from UCLA and can't use it here well then they'll find the first plane back to China...where they will no doubt benefit not our economy but China's. Now substitute China with any other country and tell me how this will help us? Are there stipulations that help us see a return on this costly investment?
