August 06, 2003

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A Bowie High School Grad Comments On Racial Double Standards

From: Dave Gorak

Northwestern University President Henry Bienen is a bad guy, according to Organization of the NorthEast (ONE), a Chicago "immigrant rights" group that wants private universities like NU to grant scholarships and grants to "undocumented" students.

This new round of  arrogant bullying from the open-borders crowd follows by about two months Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's  signing of a bill granting in-state tuition for illegals residing here and wanting to attend state-run colleges and universities.

"These are kids who have been here all their lives . . . "We're losing out on our future doctors, teachers, lawyers and administrators." whined  ONE Vice President Joyce Ramirez-Knight, who is a member of the group's "Immigration Strategy Team."  Ramirez-Knight presented her tale of woe to a Chicago Tribune reporter during a recent rally on the NU campus in Evanston, IL, to protest Bienen's (e-mail him) audacity in refusing to bow to their demands. [Schools pushed on aid policies By Rick Jervis Chicago Tribune, August 4, 2003]

Ramirez-Knight continued:

"These students are not like international students [which is how NU views them.]  They got nowhere to go but here."

How about returning to their own countries and attending those universities and colleges at no cost to taxpayers?  (The University of Mexico, for example, is a highly accredited institution.)

NU rightly noted that honoring ONE's demands would put the school in the

"awkward position of endorsing persons with illegal status in the country. If you're granting funds to non-citizens, the same could be applied to foreign students.  It could lead to applications from undocumented students from all over the country."

And what about other students who are just as needy?

But the unfairness of ONE's proposal and its blatant disregard for the rule law were dismissed by Ramirez-Knight this way:

"I just think that our country has to realize that we're a nation of immigrants.  We can help each other out to make it a great country."

Sorry, Ms. Ramirez-Knight, but no country can be great if its citizens are taught to look the other way while others wipe their feet on its laws and mock its national sovereignty.

President Bienen also has angered Malavika Jagannathan (e-mail her), a legal immigrant from the Caribbean and city editor of the school's paper, The Daily Northwestern.  Responding to my e-mail praising Bienen for standing firm, Ms Jagannathan said:

"While I agree that illegal immigration should be reduced and discouraged, I cannot bring myself to believe that we should punish the children of immigrants for what they had no choice in."

I see. We're not supposed to punish students ( who have already received a free public education on our dime) because their parents violated our borders.  But it is just dandy if we punish American taxpayers and those who support private schools by forcing them to subsidize this criminal activity.  What kind of "choice" is that?

Dave Gorak [email him] is the executive director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration in LaValle, WI. Read his VDARE.COM archive here.