Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Changing the Subject

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Tim Craig’s WaPo piece on the GOP legislative leadership’s new immigration proposals makes for very entertaining reading. I absolutely love the set-up on this paragraph:

The college admissions proposal, which comes as party leaders try to shift public attention from controversial abusive-driving fees, is part of a five-point plan presented by Republican legislators, including House Speaker William J. Howell (Stafford) and Senate Majority Leader Walter A. Stosch (Henrico).

It reminds me of a scene from To Be Or Not To Be, where the flustered Col. Erhardt (Charles Durning), caught in a flip-flop by his aid Capt. Schultz (Christopher Lloyd) accuses Schultz of changing the subject…”Shift! Shift! Shift!”

I wonder if Mel Brooks is running political strategy for the GOP these days (Jack Benny being unavailable at press time)

And the article gets even better:

…most four-year colleges prohibit illegal immigrants, advocates and college officials said. “We don’t enroll illegal aliens,” said Jeff Hanna, a spokesman for the University of Virginia. “A student who applies and is accepted must produce documentation.” In 2004, a federal judge in Alexandria upheld the right of U-Va. and six other Virginia colleges and universities to deny admission to illegal immigrants. The suit was brought by illegal immigrants upset that they were being denied entry.

So there’s no real problem here, right? Unless there’s evidence to the contrary:

O’Brien couldn’t present any evidence Wednesday that illegal immigrants are gaining access to Virginia’s colleges.

Maybe his dog ate it. But there really, really has to be some justification for this proposal, right Senator?

GOP leaders offered statistics showing that 36 percent of applicants to a four-year public college in Virginia were rejected last year.

Ah hah! Now we’re getting somewhere!

They couldn’t say how many of those denials occurred because the applicants weren’t academically qualified.

Strike that… we’re back to where we started. Shift! Shift! Shift!

Now all this hard earned ribbing aside, I can appreciate the desire some have to see that taxpayer resources are not spent on people who came to this nation illegally, took no steps to change that status and then ask for state-supported college education.

But I would very strongly suggest that the great political minds behind these proposals make at least the modest attempt of prepping themselves before they hold a press conference.

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Comments

7 responses to “Changing the Subject”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “..took no steps to change that status”

    This would be a valid criticism if there were any useful steps to take. If the path is endless, and the first step on the path is likely to lead to deportation, what is the point?

    If you want to make that argument, you first need to have a process that works instead of one where you make an application and get no response, or maybe you get a request for another copy of the same information — four years laters.

  2. sad today in swva Avatar
    sad today in swva

    First good laugh I’ve had all day.
    Thanks

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    It’s a start.

    The second part should include less space to international students here on visas…..they ultimately take away space from American students – particularly in fields such as engineering, computer science, etc.

  4. AnonymousIsAWoman Avatar
    AnonymousIsAWoman

    It is a good laugh. If the schools won’t except illegal immigrants, went to court to uphold their right to reject their applications and won, where’s the problem?

    Oh, the politicians need to divert our attention from the crappy transportation bill they passed, complete with abuser fees that everybody hates. I get it now.

  5. NoVA Scout Avatar
    NoVA Scout

    It’s getting pretty embarrassing to be a Republican in Virginia these days. Laughter is the ultimate weapon against political illusions/delusions. The giggles are beginning to move toward the guffaw end of the scale.

  6. details, details Avatar
    details, details

    Anon 843…

    Same question put to the legislators, show us the data.

  7. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    …most four-year colleges prohibit illegal immigrants, advocates and college officials said. “We don’t enroll illegal aliens,” said Jeff Hanna, a spokesman for the University of Virginia. “A student who applies and is accepted must produce documentation.”

    This makes Sen. Edd Houck’s attempt last session to grant in-state tuition to students in the US illegally somewhat odd. If our 4-year colleges won’t admit such students, why push a bill to grant them in-state tuition? Community colleges?

    This bill was dropped when it became apparent that, under federal law, VA could grant in-state tuition to students who were illegal aliens, but only if it also granted in-state tuition to all students who were US citizens or legal residents, thus abolishing out-of-state tuition. Naturally this course of action would have been a major blow to VA’s 4-year schools and it was dropped.

    Deena Flinchum

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