[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 150 (Monday, November 14, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2342-E2343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE CRIMINALS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. C. L. ``BUTCH'' OTTER

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 14, 2005

  Mr. OTTER. Mr. Speaker, I commend to the attention of this body a 
recent column that appeared on Monday, October 24, 2005, in my hometown 
newspaper, The Idaho Statesman. It was written by syndicated columnist 
Ruben Navarrette, and it makes some very important and relevant points 
about personal responsibility, parental responsibility, the problem of 
illegal immigration and the children it victimizes. I hope that our 
colleagues will take the opportunity to read it, and perhaps gain a new 
perspective on an issue that is growing in urgency across America.

               [From The Idaho Statesman, Oct. 24, 2005]

                    Illegal Immigrants Are Criminals

                         (By Ruben Navarrette)

       I get accused of always defending Latinos. But sometimes 
     what they really need is a good scolding.
       Like on those occasions when Latino activists go into left 
     field and start advocating totally impractical policies that 
     add nothing to the national discourse on important and 
     controversial issues.
       I got an earful of that recently when I was asked to join 
     in a town hall meeting in Dallas organized by Hispanic CREO, 
     a Washington-based educational reform group dedicated to 
     giving Latino parents more choices regarding their children's 
     education.
       My fellow panelists and I were expected to talk about 
     education and how Latinos could demand and receive more from 
     public schools that are doing future generations a disservice 
     with a mixture of neglect, excuses and low expectations.
       My own solution to the educational crisis is all about 
     self-help. Latinos can't sit around waiting for teachers and 
     principals to suddenly develop higher expectations for them. 
     Rather, Latino parents need to understand the power they have 
     to pressure those students to take tougher classes, work 
     harder and get grades that are so good no one can keep them 
     down.
       The same principle applies to the subject that the audience 
     really wanted to talk about above all others: illegal 
     immigration. And it was during that discussion that reality 
     went out the window.
       It started when a woman who identified herself as a teacher 
     asked what she was supposed to tell parents (who were illegal 
     immigrants) about why their children (who were also here 
     illegally) couldn't go to college or apply for financial aid, 
     even after they had worked hard and earned good grades.
       You see, typically, the pursuit of higher education 
     requires a valid Social Security number, which illegal 
     immigrants don't have. Some states also require that 
     undocumented immigrant students pay exorbitantly high out-of-
     state tuition rates, even if they and their families have 
     lived in that particular state and paid taxes for years.
       My answer to the question shocked some in the mostly Latino 
     audience: Tell the parents they made a terrible mistake when 
     they came into the country illegally, and that they 
     compounded that mistake every day that they stayed here 
     without legal documentation. Explain to them that our actions 
     have consequences and that one consequence of their decision 
     to trespass across the border into the United States is that 
     they and their children were destined to live lives that

[[Page E2343]]

     may never realize their full potential. Make them understand 
     that, while they may be splendid parents in every other way, 
     they did their children a great disservice by leaving them to 
     wander in the shadows.
       Whether they can go to college is the least of their 
     worries. I don't care if the children are honor students, 
     they can be picked up and deported at any time. And now, 
     unless there are substantial legislative changes--like the 
     enactment of the federal Dream Act championed by Sen. Orrin 
     Hatch, R-Utah, which would allow illegal immigrant students 
     to attend college--there is not much any of us can do for 
     these children.
       The good news is that there is still quite a bit that 
     parents can do for their children. They can contact an 
     immigration lawyer or a low-cost legal clinic and ask how it 
     is that one begins the long and often expensive process for 
     obtaining legal residency.
       I told the crowd that I knew of one person who spent 12 
     years and more than $12,000 to convert her status, and that 
     of her son, from ``illegal'' to ``legal.'' That brought 
     gasps. Apparently, that sounded like a lot of money. It 
     isn't, I told them. It's $1,000 per year, or about $80 a 
     month.
       I know immigrants who spend that on their monthly cell 
     phone bill, and this is much more important. If these illegal 
     immigrant parents don't want to do it for themselves, then 
     they should do it for their children.
       I received scattered applause, but it was nothing compared 
     to the rousing response that went to another panelist--Raul 
     Yzaguirre, former president of the National Council of La 
     Raza--when he said that he didn't like the term ``illegal 
     immigrant'' because he didn't think that people who came to 
     this country to feed their families should be considered 
     criminals.
       What else would we call them? They broke the law. We can be 
     sympathetic to their plight without condoning their actions. 
     In order for Latinos to make real progress, first they have 
     to stay in the real world.

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