HispanicBusiness

WASHINGTON, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the watershed events in the effort to guarantee full equality to all American citizens was the integration of Little Rock's Central High School in 1957. Forty-eight years ago, then- Governor Orville Faubus shamefully fanned racial tensions and attempted to deny African-American children their full rights as American citizens. Current Governor Mike Huckabee is attempting to hijack and distort that important event in Arkansas' and American history to force today's Arkansans to subsidize a university education for illegal aliens residing in the state.

Gov. Huckabee invoked the memory of Central High in throwing his support behind House Bill 1525, legislation that would allow illegal aliens to attend Arkansas' public universities and colleges at subsidized in-state tuition rates. While federal law requires states to provide a free K-12 education for all children regardless of immigration status, states have no obligation to provide or subsidize post-high school education.

"The comparison between the situation of African-Americans in 1957, who were being denied their constitutional rights because of the color of their skin, and illegal aliens who are being denied an expensive taxpayer subsidy because they are violating federal laws is specious and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of history by Gov. Huckabee," charged Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "It insults the memory and the courage of the people who risked their lives to integrate Central High to compare their situation to that of people who are violating U.S. immigration laws, but nonetheless demand that Arkansas taxpayers subsidize their college education. Discrimination based on race, religion, or other immutable characteristics is abhorrent and illegal. Denying a publicly subsidized benefit based upon people's failure to abide by the law is rational and completely justified," said Stein.

In addition to requiring Arkansas taxpayers to pay for a university education for illegal aliens, the admission of illegal aliens to public universities will mean that some other student -- likely a U.S. citizen -- will not get in. "A college education is almost a prerequisite to social and economic advancement today. With the costs of a private college education skyrocketing, public universities are often the only option for middle class and poor families," Stein observed. "The ultimate irony of Gov. Huckabee's invocation of Central High is that passage of HB 1525 might result in the grandchildren of those Central High students having to surrender their place at a state university to an illegal alien.

"The predicament that the children of illegal aliens find themselves in is a consequence of their own parents' willful violation of U.S. immigration laws," Stein continued. "We all empathize with them, but empathy should not entail a burden on law-abiding taxpayers and their own children. It is critical to keep in mind that denial of a benefit is not the same as denial of a right. African-American kids in 1957 were being denied their rights as citizens. Illegal aliens in 2005 are asking for a publicly financed benefit. The two situations are not the same, and Gov. Huckabee should know better." Federation for American Immigration Reform

Web site: http://www.fairus.org/