Tech leaders lend a hand to undocumented students who dream of college
At a Georgia State rally in support of the Dream Act, police order students to move. Six students were arrested at the August protest. (M. Martinez/mundohispanico)
The Wall Street Journal reports that the “titans” of Silicon Valley are coming to the aid of undocumented students who want to attend college in the United States, a dream that is being derailed by state legislatures intent on limiting access to their public colleges, including those in Georgia.
On Monday, the state Senate approved a bill that would bar illegal immigrants from attending all of Georgia’s 60 public colleges, the 35 colleges in the University System of Georgia and the 25 in Technical College System of Georgia.
If Senate Bill 458 becomes law, Georgia would join Alabama and South Carolina in barring undocumented students from its public college classrooms.
According to the AJC, Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, said his bill guarantees that taxpayer-supported colleges only serve citizens and those who are in the country lawfully. He maintains that said it’s wrong for illegal immigrants to take seats at these schools since they can’t legally work in the country after graduation.
But the Wall Street Journal article says a powerful, influential and wealthy group of innovation leaders — Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the Palm Pilot; and the family foundations of Andrew Grove, co-founder of Intel Corp., Mark Leslie, founder of the former Veritas Software Corp., and Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs — disagree with locking such students out of higher education.
The Silicon Valley money is part of a broader response by individuals and states to Congress, which hasn’t passed the Dream Act. That federal legislation would offer a path to legalization for illegal immigrants who graduate from a U.S. high school and attend college or join the military. “We think Congress’s inaction…is devastating for these students and tragic for the country,” said Ms. Powell Jobs, who was one of the first in the tech community to champion the Dream Act by lobbying her congresswoman and writing an op-ed piece supporting the legislation.
The focus of the Silicon Valley philanthropists is Educators for Fair Consideration, or E4FC, a nonprofit that gives scholarships, career advice and legal services to students brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
Companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants can face civil and criminal penalties. Among other ideas, the Silicon Valley donors are studying the possibility of using unpaid internships as way for students to come to the attention of employers who might later sponsor them for a legal work visa. After helping a few dozen students through college with small donations, the San Francisco-based organization expanded with money from the tech leaders. It now has enlisted immigration attorneys to offer legal advice to hundreds of undocumented students.
“We used to think, ‘Let’s just get them through college’” with scholarships, said Katharine Gin, a teacher who founded E4FC along with a college counselor. “We thought the federal Dream Act would pass and we would be helping these students in the interim period only.”
Several of the Silicon Valley supporters became aware of the issue close up: Mr. Hawkins got to know an undocumented student at his daughters’ high school. Liz Simons, daughter of the founder of hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, mentored an undocumented honor student in high school who was struggling to raise funds for college because of his illegal status. Seth Leslie, son of Veritas’s founder, had encountered undocumented students in his work as a schoolteacher and principal. The money involved is relatively small: The tech philanthropists and others gave hundreds of thousands dollars in the last year to the group, whose 2012 operating budget is $600,000.
California, Illinois and New York in recent months passed bills that enable undocumented students to receive financial aid for college. Thirteen states allow illegal immigrants who reside in their borders to pay in-state fee.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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126 comments Add your comment
Do some research
March 6th, 2012
4:03 pm
Willieb – you are getting owned , just keep it shut.
southern hope
March 6th, 2012
4:10 pm
ugh, we’re such idiots here. And i can say “we” because I was born here. Only backwards states (hello south carolina & alabama) have done this and – once you dig into it – you realize what a nonsensical law it is….while some georgians are patting themselves on the back for their smart political move (i.e. pandering), the better students are finding their way to MIT & Standard & University of Chicago.
And I know many on this thread are thinking, “good riddance….let’s get these aliens out of here.”
grrrrr.
deegee
March 6th, 2012
4:19 pm
willieb, the illegal immigrant pays upwards of $3k for his passage. He has to repay the person/s that lent him the money to get here from the little bit he earns. There is no free ride.
Zapata Vive
March 6th, 2012
4:28 pm
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=3b1e0f0c9693eb67668c49bbb&id=b1ee69f268
Zapata Vive
March 6th, 2012
4:30 pm
http://www.freedomuniversitygeorgia.org
Military is a job is it not?
March 6th, 2012
4:30 pm
Deegee, isn’t the military a job? So, why would a guy leave the military after 20 years, before retirement I presume? In fact, I believe just about anyone can join the Army as long as they’re fit to serve. I don’t hear about a lot of poor that enter the military complaining about the pay. I think willieb is just mad his buddy made some bad decisions and someone’s got to feel the wrath. Not to mention, it seems to me that his pal could get work picking crops, but it’s not a good enough job to support his family, nor one he’s really qualified to do now that he’s up there in age. Good thing we have … I mean had illegal workers willing to do that work us Americans don’t want.
Ron F.
March 6th, 2012
4:42 pm
Centrist: I hardly think anyone is suggesting we ignore a problem. But, without verifiable stats, who can genuinely assess what the problem really is? I’m not saying I like illegals and support giving them anything. I’m an independent who used to vote very conservatively- I won’t go into that issue here. But, how do we solve it? Do we round them up and ship them back? How do we pay for that? Noone seems to want to answer those questions, and they are valid. Is there a cost-effective way to handle this? I simply don’t understand why we can’t give the one who want to be able to have it some reasonable path to being documented or to become a citizen. The rest- send them back. Any suggestions about how to do that?
jsf
March 6th, 2012
4:44 pm
USA a country of immigrates, a proud melting pot of:
- Irish’s escape from potatoes famine (economic opportunists),
- Europeans try to escape the King and dictators rules,
- the Gold diggers and Indian killers
- escape the religeous proscution,
- the crazy, prisoners, and the unwanted outcasts from Europe in the 1700’s
and now their dump next generations legislates state laws to enforce Klan’s ideal to undermine with school kids of minority race.
Centrist
March 6th, 2012
4:52 pm
@ Ron F. The cost effective way for dealing with ILLEGAL immigrants is first to control our borders. The border states are taking a lot of that into their own hands because the federal government is reneging on that responsibility. The second thing to do is to make it less lucrative for ILLEGAL immigrants to sneak across our borders. More than just border states are doing that with E-Verify for employers along with fines and sanctions, drug testing for benefits, requiring real documentation of citizenship for benefits, deporting those who are caught and jailing repeat offenders, and restricting/denying access to higher education which is the subject of this blog.
teacher&mom
March 6th, 2012
4:54 pm
The only group guilty of taking away the “educational opportunities” of GA’s youth, is the group of foolish legislators who currently reside in the Gold Dome and the voters who send them back time and time again.
Victim of Illegals
March 6th, 2012
4:57 pm
If you don’t like the laws of Georgia, you’re welcome to run for public office if you’re a citizen. If not, you’re welcome to move. If companies find the laws of Georgia unappealing, they can move as well. There are clearly a lot of people who do support enforcing current legislation & strengthening it further.
Just because a lot of people are doing it, does not mean it is right and our leaders should not sanction or dilute laws.
I’ve had my identity stolen by an illegal 22 years ago. Have endured ridiculous amounts of time dealing with IRS/Ga dept of Revenue, clearing credit reports, medical bills & was almost arrested for a bench warrant when she didn’t show up for traffic court. Thankfully, I keep copies of police reports in my wallet “just in case”.
I have no patience for any illegal. Life is a cr*pshoot – yes, I was born in the US, not Mexico . But that does not justify others stealing – be it taxpayer-paid education, medical services, or social servces.
I have lived in stress when I get collection calls or something dings my credit. Terrified if I ge pulled over that the next officer might not look at MY documentation. I cannot imagine living in fear day to day of being caught -easily remedied by returning to one’s legal country of origin.
Illegal is illegal. I look forward to our state making Georgia undesirable to illegals. Those who are living/working in Georgia illegally can go elsewhere & mooch off another state.
Gio
March 6th, 2012
5:08 pm
You people have no heart for this kids it wasn’t there choice to come here illegally
Ron F.
March 6th, 2012
5:11 pm
Centrist: if you look at the numbers, it’s a lot more costly to jail someone than to educate him or her. So what about those who aren’t breaking the law? Is there a way for them to get documentation without punishment so they can be documented? I guess not living that, I don’t know how one would go about that. If they commit a crime, they should do the time- I totally agree with that. Thanks for responding reasonably. It’s nice to disagree and discuss things productively without the juvenile name-calling that is so frequent on blogs these days.
Centrist
March 6th, 2012
5:26 pm
@ Ron F. – The jail I referred to was for repeat ILLEGAL immigrant offenders before they are deported – disincentive to do it again.
The ones not breaking the law will continue to be under the radar – but there is no reason to offer them any documentation (as if they were stupid enough to accept it). If they are caught by authorities doing other work other than looking for them (too costly), they need to be deported. If deportation was more of a threat, fewer would risk sneaking in to set up ILLEGAL residency.
ConcernedAmerican
March 6th, 2012
5:43 pm
Don’t be fooled! The tech titans are only giving money to undocumented students because there is a shortage of white Americans entering the field of engineering, computer science, or any of the applied sciences. This has less to do with humanity then it does with simple math. If you increase the number of people studying these fields, you are more likely to find better qualified candidates to hire in the future. America, stop letting your lazy-ass kids get away with studying useless fields like photography and history.
Lawyers are history buffs
March 6th, 2012
5:54 pm
Just about all of my friends from college who went to law school majored in something “useless” like English, History or Political Science. Of course, it could be argued they’re still doing something “useless” being lawyers. The lesson here is that all of my lawyer friends are inept in mathematics, so always check the math whenver you get a bill from an attorney. It’s probably wrong.
Let Innovative Leaders open and pay for their college
March 6th, 2012
5:56 pm
These people want to provide college for illegal aliens “Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the Palm Pilot; and the family foundations of Andrew Grove, co-founder of Intel Corp., Mark Leslie, founder of the former Veritas Software Corp., and Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs — disagree with locking such students out of higher education.”
Well, if those influential people disagree with it then they can buy their own island, establish their own country and build and pay for the colleges for the illegal aliens — they need to put THEIR money where THEIR mouth is and keep their grimey paws off MY money.
GM
ummm
March 6th, 2012
6:03 pm
They’re doing it already.
Gio's Point
March 6th, 2012
8:25 pm
Gio makes the point that “You people have no heart for this kids it wasn’t there choice to come here illegally…”
“It wasn’t my choice either and I resent my tax money going to support them and their illegal immigrant families. All those who want to pay for illegal aliens should pay for them — all of it — and let those of us who don’t want them to leave our wallets intact. I need to support my own children and give what I can to real deserving Americans who need it.”
Charity begins at home — with American money for Americans. If we become so rich and educated that all Americans have enough, then we can seriously consider charity outside the borders.
If any American feels compelled to give their money to others and to illegal immigrants — they can — through voluntary donations instead of ripping my money out of my hands involuntarily.
GM
college prf
March 6th, 2012
10:47 pm
What is a “state supported” colleges? Most state colleges get about 40% of their operating funds from state. Many private schools also get state “support.”. Why is this legisration applying only to state schools?
Truthpaste
March 7th, 2012
8:26 am
It amazes me that an uneducated 15 year old kid from Guatemala can figure out how to traverse hundreds of miles of rough terrain, cross the border illegally, land a job in California without knowing a word of English, save his money, and then bring his family across the border …
but REFUSES to become an legal US citizen. If you can figure out how to cheat the system, then you are smart enough to figure out how to become a US citizen. Take that saved money and learn English and apply for citizenship.
It is a MYTH that all Illegals are hard working and look for the American dream. They want the American dream given to them and their supporters are nothing more than accomplices in the crime spree.
If you support illegals, then ADOPT AN ALIEN. Put your money where your mouth is help them directly. Prove your compassion and take them into your home and show them the way.
It is obviously easier for ILLEGAL ALIENS to sit around waiting for a handout and amnesty than to do the right thing. Lawbreakers support lawbreakers, period. You are all SCUM!
Prof
March 7th, 2012
10:45 am
@ college prf. According to the story above, “Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, said his bill guarantees that taxpayer-supported colleges only serve citizens and those who are in the country lawfully.”
Is this what you’re referring to? “Taxpayer-supported” is different from “state supported,” and is very broad.
thomas
March 7th, 2012
1:19 pm
@ Prof,
How else a state support colleges without using taxpayer’s money? What exactly does the senator mean by “taxpayer-supported” colleges? I think what college prf said is that state colleges get only about 40% of operational budget from the state (I have no idea his/her number is accurate).
I’m not sure what you mean by ” “Taxpayer-supported” is different from “state supported,” and is very broad.” If it is “broader” then, as college prf says, shouldn’t the restriction also apply to private colleges?
Prof
March 7th, 2012
2:43 pm
@ thomas. I agree! College prf has quote-marks around “state supported,” so I thought it was a misquote of Sen. Loudermilk. Also, college prf notes: “Why is this legislation applying only to state schools?”
From the rest of the article, it seems that Sen. Loudermilk is referring to USG schools. I don’t believe that private colleges get any of their operational budget from the state. @ college prf: where did you get that figure?
deegee
March 10th, 2012
4:15 pm
Thruthpaste, get a clue. If you entered the US illegally you CANNOT become a US citizen. The law doesn’t allow it. Read before you write.
Ole Guy
March 10th, 2012
5:06 pm
If I sneak into, say Paris, without bothering to get a passport, will the Frenchies help me in my life-long dream of going to the Sourbone so that I might further realize my burning desire to be an aging artiste? NO!!! THEY’LL THROW MY SIX IN JAIL!!!