Student Life's Article on Illegal Immigrants at the Colleges

Before I weigh in on the article about illegal immigrants and Pomona College, let me just say a few things before I am branded a racist, xenophobe, etc. I love immigrants. In fact, I really love one of them, my girlfriend who became a naturalized U.S. citizen just a few year ago. I get why people chose to come to the United States and I think they ought to be treated humanely when they arrive here from wherever they happen to hail. And I favor a complete immigration overhaul and letting in more and more people into the U.S., particularly high skilled Sergey Brin types, but also low-skilled as well. I also favor eliminating birthright citizenship in the U.S. because I think that where your born shouldn't dictate what citizenship you happen to receive.

Still, we have to be honest about the state service incentives we offer illegal immigrants to come to the U.S. They shouldn't get in-state tuition, nor any services other than medical care. Their children, even if born in America, should be banned from public schools for the very obvious reason that public schools should be teaching and raising a generation of citizens. Of course, we shouldn't have public colleges or schools anyways, but that's another story entirely.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, here are a few problems with the article, "In-Depth Look: Finding Home," that ran today in The Student Life.

By conflating the issue of legal immigrants, such as the girl from New Zealand, with illegal immigrants, such as the girl from Guatemala, Pomona's Student Life obfuscates the issue. That's their intent, really. It's why they've twice referred to illegal immigrants as "undocumented citizens" (whatever that means) and why they use the phrase, "undocumented immigrant" as opposed to illegal immigrant.

Worse yet, the article failed to seriously consider some of the incentives that Pomona College affords people who break the law. I quote the article,

Pitzer provides one full scholarship for an undocumented immigrant each year; Pomona provides need-based school-funded financial aid for any admitted; and the other schools’ financial aid policies for non-residents vary. All of the colleges admit undocumented immigrants.

“It’s really important for schools and students to know which colleges and universities do offer [admission to undocumented students], because there are some students who think they don’t have the possibility to go on to college,” Feldblum [of Pomona College] said.

A scholarship for illegal immigrants at Pitzer?! How is that legal or a good idea?

Pomona, by the way, doesn't give any tuition breaks and certainly isn't need blind for legal immigrants. In fact, those unfortunate, with a few exceptions get shafted by the financial aid office and often have no recourse but to go massively into debt or to finance it from their savings.

Of course, a lot of those illegal immigrant students also get shafted by the process as well, despite the benefits they get as the article makes clear. Dean Feldblum seems to like the diversity (really racial diversity) that the immigrants bring to the campus. From the article:

“I think there’s so much richness and diversity and insight, and multiple perspectives that immigrant students, staff and faculty bring to the college,” Feldblum said. “It’s really exciting to see how having an increasing number of first and second generation students transforms the conversations that are had on college campuses [and] the intellectual pursuits for students.”

But some of these students are actually harmed by the process: because they are illegal, they can't get hired!

When they graduate, undocumented immigrants, face an environment not nearly as coddling as Claremont. If they still have not obtained legal status, their gold-sealed degrees and glowing references do nothing to help them get jobs. They are stuck in what some call “professional purgatory.”

“It’s an additional burden [they bear],” said Pomona College Dean of Students Miriam Feldblum. “[These] are things that affect people’s lives in a daily way, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not also living life in really full ways at Pomona.”

All of this makes me wonder. According to the Pew Research Center, most of the illegal immigrants come from Latin America, which is no large surprise given the relative closeness of the countries and the wealth disparities. If I were in their position, I would try to come to the U.S. anyway that I could.

Here's my question: If 57% of illegal immigrants are Mexico, 24% were from other Latin America, primarily from Central America, 9% were from Asia, 6% were from Europe and Canada, and 4% were from the rest of the world, doesn't it constitute de facto racial discrimination to the other illegal immigrants that Pomona and Pitzer offer tuition breaks or scholarships to illegal immigrants for the reason that they are illegal?