College Enrollment of Illegal Immigrants in the US
Introduction
Illegal immigration refers to the act of foreign national violating the migratory policies and national laws of a country by entering or remaining in the said country without legal permission. In the United States of America, the number of illegal immigrants has continued to outpace the number of legal immigrants since the 1990s. An estimated 13.9 million households are headed by an unauthorized individual. In the recent years, more and more illegal immigrants are better educated that those who migrated into the country more than a decade ago. Most of them have at least some college education although illegal immigrants as a whole tend to be less educated than other sections of the entire U.S population.
Many students who are raised illegally in the United States and completed high school successfully do not have any chance of obtaining their dream careers as advance education for them is coupled up with a lot of problems. Alternatively, individuals who have completed their degree courses but are undocumented may fail to gain any relevant employment due to being present illegally in the United States. In some colleges, students who have completed high school in their native countries and later on immigrated to the states illegally are not given admission on the basis of legality. Students who have illegally migrated to the States are faced with many legal as well as racial barriers as they strive to advance their education.
Barriers encountered by illegal immigrants seeking college admission
In the recent past, the US economy has been faced with a severe crisis which has led to some states closing their doors to illegal students seeking post-secondary admission. States such as South Carolina have banned these students from being admitted in any of its public colleges and universities. Among the many reasons why this move has received immense support are the poor conditions of the public institutions. The citizens residing in South California have asked the state government to use the extra money to improve the structure of these facilities so that they as benefit American citizens. Some have been keen on the current financial crisis hitting hard on all Americans and they thus insist that very single dollar should be used cater for the needs of American students and not illegal immigrants. Thinking along this line it is clear that Americans think highly of themselves and have little to say about other people. This is especially made worse if the illegal immigrants belong to the minority group of African-Americans or blacks. Alternatively, the nature of public structures in the schools is bound to depreciate due to overstretched utilization thus lowering the quality of education for the resident’s children. Taxpayers identify this as a form of trickery because in as much as they are heavily taxed, they are unable to see proper utilization of the taxes (Ramirez, 2008).
The fact that provision of subsidize tuition for post-secondary education of illegal immigrants may lead to more illegal immigrants converging in the States has been a critical barrier in college admissions. Most Americans deem it as being wrong when the illegal immigrants are asked to pay less in terms of tuition fees in public institutions. In-state tuition is aimed at helping the locals attain minimum tertiary education and students from other states are usually excluded from the grant and it would be quite ironical to provide the same to aliens who are not even Americans. This provides a common ground for the American and illegal immigrant students to compete for the education slot which is not fair to the Americans. With time, the more aliens will move into the public institutions thus reducing the opportunities available for American students. Increased competition against the students who are US citizens is seen as a threat as the tax payers will be paying for the education of students who will later on move to their own countries after graduation. Thus, the entire money will be seen as wasted because it will never benefit the Americans. This makes it more difficult to obtain access to the public institutions due to increased expenses and competition (Gerson, 2005).
The college slots are usually fixed such that the money set aside for each is constant. Therefore, by encouraging aliens to get admission in public institutions means that few Americans will get access to tertiary education at the expense of illegal immigrants. Consequently, literacy levels of Americans will go down and the aliens will not be anywhere around to help in solving the problem. Banning illegal immigrants from being admitted to public institutions is similar to kicking them out of the States as well since most immigrated there in search of affordable education (Marklein, 2008).
This is a poor notion as most of the illegal immigrants are willing to work in their residential states and help their fellow immigrants fit in the states. This way they will be able to pay taxes and reimburse the money they had previously used in school. Some are even willing to pay more than the normal rates as a way of appreciating the efforts of the American government (Ramirez, 2008).
Sometimes students who are born in the States by undocumented parents are exposed to discrimination and exception from government grants among other legal affairs even though they regard themselves as citizens by birth. Some of these students are willing to become legal citizens but the measures and procedures involved are quite complicated and bureaucratic. This has led to more students being unwilling to legalize their status as at times they are required to submit details of their parents such that if the information is not available, the process is thwarted. The arrangements for legalizing their status is also time consuming keeping in mind that they are expected to concentrate in their studies to obtain better grades. Most of the students consider the biasness in college admission as a form of punishment for their parent’s mistakes which is non-categorical because during the migration they had very little to do as a way of obtaining legal entry permit. Despite all these, undocumented students have adopted American values and culture such that it would be difficult to tell them apart from their legal counterparts. Most of them consider themselves as being Americans and they fail to understand why the government discriminates against them when it comes to issues concerning college admission (Preston, 2009).
Most states will occasionally admit high performers especially those who post excellent results in their final high school exams. However, most end up being rejected when they fail to produce their Social Security number. This is an even bigger challenge as only legal citizens posses the number those wiling to issued with the number have to take make their presence in the states known by the government. Fear of deportation supersedes the need for seeking the Social Security number and they thus end up being undocumented. Most students will be too eager to join college but their application is rejected when they fail to present their Social Security Number or documents showing that they are legal US citizens (Marklein, 2005).
Sometimes it is even difficult to access awards or for the teachers to assign responsibilities to students who are not in possession of the Social Security Number. This deprives students the opportunity of participating in leadership roles hence they are unable to explore their talents especially in leading positions. Teachers and the state cannot recognize the contribution of the student even if it is exemplary because they are illegally present in the United States. Such students are then denied admission to tertiary colleges because they are cannot afford the minimal tuition fees required. As other American college students work extra hours in well paying jobs to supplement their college education, the illegal immigrants can only able to get part time employment in the lowly paying fields. This is because most of the well paying part time jobs are reserved for legal citizens while the aliens grapple with menial jobs. Limitations such as lack of the Social Security number minimizes the chances of accessing well paying part time jobs an even greater challenge. Most employers are not willing to employ an alien who may be wanted by the police an one who lacks the legal papers (Gerson, 2005).
Consequently, most of America’s citizens are opposed to presentation of equal rights and benefits for both the legal and illegal students. Illegal immigrants are thus entitled to lesser benefits as a way of making them realize that they do not deserve the same chances and opportunities as the citizens. According to them, all government grants and benefits should be used to cater for the needs of legal citizens who have a direct impact on the overall growth of the American economy (Preston, 2009).
However, the illegal immigrants should take this problem as a way of encouraging their attainment of legal status. The fact that even after graduating from school they are not entitled to any form of employment such that it would only be too worthwhile to start the legalization process well in advance. This will increase their chances of obtaining opportunities in their dream careers as well as in achievement of advanced academic qualifications (Preston, 2009).
Conclusion
Illegal immigration has detrimental effects not only on the students who are denied access to schools but to those who are already past schooling. The barriers to accessing tertiary education should however be enhanced to reduce crime as students who are frustrated by the state of events may end up in crime. The government should alternatively put more effort on the Dream Act to provide equal chances for all the bright students to achieve their academic dreams.
References
Gerson, Daniela, College graduates who are illegal immigrants face barren job market. 2005. Retrieved from: www.goglescholar.com
Marklein, Mary, B. Illegal immigrant students face threat of no college. 2008. Retrieved from: www.usatoday.com/news/…/2008-07-06-Illegaled
Preston, Julia, Illegal immigrant students publicly take up a cause. 2009. Retrieved from: www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/us/11stdents
Ramirez, Eddy. Should colleges enroll illegal immigrants? 2008. retrieved from: http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/2008/08/07/should-colleges-enroll- illegal-immigrants.html>.
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