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The Betrayal of the California DREAM Act
You’ll hear from major immigration reform groups, mainstream media outlets and from Governor Jerry Brown that he signed the “California DREAM Act” into law yesterday.
Brown signed into law AB-130 yesterday, which gives undocumented students in California access to private funding for college. Here’s a newsflash: undocumented students in California have had access to private funding for a long time. Thousands of students at major universities across the state have gone through the system with private funds from private donors. The students at community colleges and state universities have had little to no access to private funding and are most unlikely to receive any help from AB-130. In other words, the bill does not do anything new and does not compel any institution to do anything different.
It’s disingenuous to call this grandstanding “progress” let alone a victory of any kind. The REAL California DREAM Act — AB-131 — is sitting in committee. AB-131 would provide undocumented AB-540 students in California access to state financial aid. Brown does not want to sign it. The Democrats have weakened it over the years. And California immigration advocacy groups are too meek to take on the structures that are failing us. Instead, they are telling us to be quiet and working actively to silence our voices.
Any Dreamers in California who have taken a stand against such grandstanding are castigated and demarcated as trouble-makers. Some of us have left the state to pursue higher education elsewhere. The lies continue to pile up as the state, which is at the top in prison spending, struggles to provide basic education to everyone while hiking tuition each year. And California Dreamers keep dreaming for a day when they have real leadership and real change.
If you want to pursue higher education somewhere else, I don’t think anyone will stop you at the border.
You are correct that ILLEGAL ALIENS have had access to private funds already. Most LEGAL voters in California are not aware of that. See:
http://www.avidregion4.org/resources/documents/fin_aid/UndocumentedStudent_Student_Guide-AB_540_.pdf
Also, most LEGAL voters of California don’t realize that AB 131 is misleading as well. They are continually told that no ILLEGAL ALIEN will receive public funds until all LEGAL students receive them. This is patently false. See:
Lori Nehzurah, Governmental Relations staff of the California
Student Aid Commission, has been misquoted in perpetuating in this matter:
EGPnews.com
“On behalf of the California Student Aid Commission, I am
requesting a correction to a quote attributed to me, Lori Nezhura, Legislative Director for the California Student Aid Commission, in the “Trying to Keep the Dream Alive” article posted on July 14, 2011. It is imperative that your readers be informed that the number of High School Entitlement Cal
Grants and Transfer Entitlement Cal Grants are unlimited and available to all students meeting financial need, GPA, and
other eligibility criteria. Therefore, if passed, Dream Act students will be able to receive these awards if they meet the same requirements.Conversely, the number of Competitive Cal Grants is limited. However, the bill stipulates that Dream Act students may only receive one of these awards provided funds remain after all eligible non-AB 540 California residents are awarded. Since approximately only 1 in 10 eligible applicants currently receive a Competitive Cal Grant, it is likely that there will be no fiscal impact to the State with respect to this particular program.”
So, where is this money supposed to come from?
I am now voting Republican on every issue and candidate so that this can be repealed and deportations en masse may start. We have allowed ourselves to be inundated with ILLEGAL ALIENS who take our jobs, ruined our education system by catering to them, and now, have pushed out LEGAL
IMMIGRANTS and US CITIZENS from receiving their entitled share of these monies. If AB 131 passes and gets signed, I fear that many people will not wait until the next election to rectify this self-hatred Californians seem to have for themselves and their own children.
If you want to pursue higher education somewhere else, I don’t think anyone will stop you at the border.
You are correct that ILLEGAL ALIENS have had access to private funds already. Most LEGAL voters in California are not aware of that. See:
http://www.avidregion4.org/resources/documents/fin_aid/UndocumentedStudent_Student_Guide-AB_540_.pdf
Also, most LEGAL voters of California don’t realize that AB 131 is misleading as well. They are continually told that no ILLEGAL ALIEN will receive public funds until all LEGAL students receive them. This is patently false. See:
Lori Nehzurah, Governmental Relations staff of the California
Student Aid Commission, has been misquoted in perpetuating in this matter:
EGPnews.com
“On behalf of the California Student Aid Commission, I am
requesting a correction to a quote attributed to me, Lori Nezhura, Legislative Director for the California Student Aid Commission, in the “Trying to Keep the Dream Alive” article posted on July 14, 2011. It is imperative that your readers be informed that the number of High School Entitlement Cal
Grants and Transfer Entitlement Cal Grants are unlimited and available to all students meeting financial need, GPA, and
other eligibility criteria. Therefore, if passed, Dream Act students will be able to receive these awards if they meet the same requirements.Conversely, the number of Competitive Cal Grants is limited. However, the bill stipulates that Dream Act students may only receive one of these awards provided funds remain after all eligible non-AB 540 California residents are awarded. Since approximately only 1 in 10 eligible applicants currently receive a Competitive Cal Grant, it is likely that there will be no fiscal impact to the State with respect to this particular program.”
So, where is this money supposed to come from?
I am now voting Republican on every issue and candidate so that this can be repealed and deportations en masse may start. We have allowed ourselves to be inundated with ILLEGAL ALIENS who take our jobs, ruined our education system by catering to them, and now, have pushed out LEGAL
IMMIGRANTS and US CITIZENS from receiving their entitled share of these monies. If AB 131 passes and gets signed, I fear that many people will not wait until the next election to rectify this self-hatred Californians seem to have for themselves and their own children.
If you want to pursue higher education somewhere else, I don’t think anyone will stop you at the border.
You are correct that ILLEGAL ALIENS have had access to private funds already. Most LEGAL voters in California are not aware of that. See:
http://www.avidregion4.org/resources/documents/fin_aid/UndocumentedStudent_Student_Guide-AB_540_.pdf
Also, most LEGAL voters of California don’t realize that AB 131 is misleading as well. They are continually told that no ILLEGAL ALIEN will receive public funds until all LEGAL students receive them. This is patently false. See:
Lori Nehzurah, Governmental Relations staff of the California
Student Aid Commission, has been misquoted in perpetuating in this matter:
EGPnews.com
“On behalf of the California Student Aid Commission, I am
requesting a correction to a quote attributed to me, Lori Nezhura, Legislative Director for the California Student Aid Commission, in the “Trying to Keep the Dream Alive” article posted on July 14, 2011. It is imperative that your readers be informed that the number of High School Entitlement Cal
Grants and Transfer Entitlement Cal Grants are unlimited and available to all students meeting financial need, GPA, and
other eligibility criteria. Therefore, if passed, Dream Act students will be able to receive these awards if they meet the same requirements.Conversely, the number of Competitive Cal Grants is limited. However, the bill stipulates that Dream Act students may only receive one of these awards provided funds remain after all eligible non-AB 540 California residents are awarded. Since approximately only 1 in 10 eligible applicants currently receive a Competitive Cal Grant, it is likely that there will be no fiscal impact to the State with respect to this particular program.”
So, where is this money supposed to come from?
I am now voting Republican on every issue and candidate so that this can be repealed and deportations en masse may start. We have allowed ourselves to be inundated with ILLEGAL ALIENS who take our jobs, ruined our education system by catering to them, and now, have pushed out LEGAL
IMMIGRANTS and US CITIZENS from receiving their entitled share of these monies. If AB 131 passes and gets signed, I fear that many people will not wait until the next election to rectify this self-hatred Californians seem to have for themselves and their own children.