TEXAS VIEW: ‘Politically correct’ law no longer fair, applicable

By Amarillo Globe-News

At least four bills in the 85th regular session of the Texas Legislature that would have addressed an unfair law in the Lone Star State failed to go much of anywhere.

The bills were related to a state law, which has been around since 2001, granting in-state college tuition to illegal immigrant students.

Some describe the law in more politically-correct (if not nonsensical) terms. A December post on www.mystatesman.com painted the law as benefiting “college students from Texas living in the United States without legal permission.”

How can a student be considered to be “from Texas” if this student does not have “legal permission” to be in the United States in the first place? The amount of politically-correct spin in this statement is beyond dizzying.

But back to the fairness — or unfairness — of the aforementioned law.

Why is it the state of Texas considers it fair for a student living in Texas “without legal permission” (should this not be considered illegal?) to receive a financial benefit that a legal resident of a neighboring state is not eligible to receive?

How is this fair? The logical answer — it is not fair.

For those who have not priced the cost of a college education lately, there is a significant difference between in-state tuition rates and out-of-state tuition rates.

Why should a legal resident of Oklahoma, New Mexico or Louisiana face the higher cost of attending a college or university in Texas, while an illegal resident (who, according to the law, must have lived in Texas for all of three years) be entitled to lower in-state tuition? There is no logical reason.

Thankfully, at least the aforementioned law does require students living in Texas “without legal permission” to at least earn a high school degree. (Sarcasm noted.)

It seems unlikely there will be much progress in future sessions of the Texas Legislature as far as repealing or fixing this politically-correct law which ignores immigration laws and grants special financial benefits not available to legal residents who happen to be from outside the state of Texas.

The unfair aspect of this law continues.

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