OPINION

Georgia HR-256 Criminalizes Innocent Children

by Aquiles Ernesto Martínez

The children are the future of our nation. Their education is essential to making America greater. However, HR-256 in our legislature shamefully puts the future of our state in jeopardy as it bars the sons and daughters of undocumented immigrants from access to K-12 and postsecondary education.

The potentially-devastating effects of this bill on our economy, health, and safety are noteworthy, but its treatment of children - especially those of Hispanic descent - is despicable. Denying them from access to schooling is inhumane for it would make them liable for the illegal behavior of their parents, leave them in a social limbo, and eventually force them to be part of an underclass. How much archaic, irrational, and barbaric could one be? Why criminalizing kids who did not have a saying in coming and remaining here? According to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, two-thirds of Latino students drop out of school, while the U.S. Census Bureau states that their education attainment is the lowest of all ethnic groups. Do we need to worsen this situation?

HR-256 is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, constitutes a crime against God's statutes, and is unconstitutional. In its 1982 Plyler versus Doe decision, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to deny public education to these children. Under this provision, they must not be held liable for their parents' conduct, and public schools officials cannot check the immigration status of their students either. It is also hypocritical to provide elementary and secondary education to these kids only to deny college education later.

Moreover, it is practically impossible for young, undocumented Latinos to go to college anyway. The Urban Institute and the National Immigration Law Center estimate that between 50,000 and 70,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools every year. Out of this number, 1,500 youngsters are Georgia graduates, and although these students cannot be denied admission, they are not illegible for Federal financial aid and Hope, are not allowed to work, and are charged out of state tuition. Scholarships available are for U.S. citizens and permanent residents only. Some colleges offer a handful of scholarships to Latinos, but they are extremely competitive and depend on grants from philanthropic foundations. So where is the justification for barring young people from postsecondary schools that have practically no students enrolled, it is impossible for them to study, and we have no way of knowing how many there? We must also remember that the cost of education for illegal immigrants and legalizing their status would be much less than deporting them and making their lives literally hell. An educated population increases tax revenues and decreases spending on areas such as law enforcement, health care, and welfare. Since the DREAM Act paves a way for their legalization, it must be endorsed.

If HR-256 the dreams of "our best and brightest" would vanish and be forced to join an uneducated, under-ground, exploitative-wage, work force or worse, a criminal sub-culture. Rewarding academic achievement serves a greater interest than prohibiting these wonderful kids from making a contribution to society. They should not be the scapegoats of our anger, wrong priorities, and incompetence in dealing with a shortage of teachers, overcrowded schools, and diminishing sources of revenue. Perhaps if did not support the astronomically-expensive-immoral war in Iraq, we wouldn't find ourselves in this economic predicament. If Senator Chip Rogers withdrew his SB-171 because "it was not a priority for the GOP" - Representative Roger Williams can now withdraw his HR-256 for the right reason: It is the moral thing to do.