"Victory" for undocumented college students?

The article from Inside Higher Ed highlights one of the many inconsistencies in the U.S. approach to addressing the issue of undocumented immigration. North Carolina has agreed to allow undocumented students attend its community colleges, but with a catch: they must pay out of state tuition.

There are nine states that allow the undocumented to attend university and pay in-state tuition (Texas,California,Utah,New York,Washington,Oklahoma,Illinois, Kansas,Nebraska, and New Mexico).

My question is this: who benefits from limiting this opportunity for the undocumented? It serves to quell the most vitriolic opponents of immigration, but at a huge societal cost. The undocumented are most likely going to be long-term residents of the U.S. It is in everyone's best interest to help them to become the most productive people they can be--for the sake of our future as well as their own.

Mex Vs. BC (Born Citizen) Pt. 1: "TRAVEL"

This is one of a series of funny parodies of the Mac/PC commercial.

Immigration & Health Care Reform

The article linked here is an editorial from Truthout.org. It discusses the reasoning why comprehensive health care would force the U.S. to reconsider, and become more strict, with immigration laws.

Has the anti-immigrant movement lost its mojo?

The news about immigration reform is sparse these days, but this article from the OC Register takes an interesting perspective in that it analyzes the status of the anti-immigrant movement in California.

One of the main factors that will no doubt influence whether or not legislation will pass is the level of in-fighting within anti-immigrant groups. In Manassas I've spoken to several people who became disenchanted with the megalomania of Greg Letiecq and his "Help Save Manassas" movement. It is telling when Jim Gilchrist of the Minuteman movement says that anti-immigrant groups have lost their edge:

"The Minuteman movement has lost its mojo because of all this delusional mentality that has gotten into the movement… In our side of the argument they are all attacking each other," Gilchrist said, alluding to his legal wrangling with Coe and other former allies -- some who have formed new groups.

The slow disintegration of the Minutemen, he says mirrors the movement in general.

"I think amnesty will pass," he said.

It serves to reason that groups formed out of an alliance of animosity toward others would eventually suffer that same animosity turned inward. It's also hard to maintain a movement that is always against something. Eventually, people want to rally behind a cause that will move them forward.