DREAMers shut out of college in South Carolina because of new immigration law.
There have been a flood of comments on this article... they might be worth looking at....even if its painful.
It is interesting that Rep. Thad Myers is now back tracking, saying the law is too extreme...
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S.C. IMMIGRATION LAWColleges telling illegal students not to return
By Robert Morris - rmorris@thesunnews.com
As they arrived home last week from their study groups and second jobs, a handful of college students across the Grand Strand found letters saying that, because they are in the U.S. illegally, this semester will be their last.
The letters are the result of a new immigration package signed into law last month after a yearlong public debate led in part by state Rep. Thad Viers of Myrtle Beach. Now, Viers says that law may go too far and pledged late last week to work on correcting it or changing its application.
"These kids are the posters for what we want from immigration," Viers said. "We're punishing them for the sins of their fathers and mothers, and that's not right."
Among its many law-enforcement and employment-related provisions, this year's immigration law contained a clause forbidding any state college from accepting illegal immigrants as students and requiring schools to begin screening applicants for citizenship.
Coastal Carolina University already had a policy against admitting illegal immigrants, so none of its students will be asked to leave, said Edgar Dyer, vice president for university relations.
Horry-Georgetown Technical College, however, practiced what is known as "open admission," and officials say a dozen or so students are being asked to leave.
The technical college's application already asks students if they are U.S. citizens, part of the criteria for financial aid, said Greg Thompson, vice president of student affairs. Those students who indicated foreign citizenship are now being sent letters, Thompson said.
"Under the new immigration state law, you are not eligible to attend classes unless you can submit a copy of your permanent resident card," the letters read.
For those students - brought to the U.S. as children by their parents, then learning English from scratch in order to finish high school - the letter was a blow, one more hardship in a world such overachievers would otherwise be on top of....
"I don't mind going back if they make me," Rodrigues said with a note of resignation. "But I think it's sad that they prefer uneducated illegal immigrants to educated illegal immigrants."
As the immigration debate roiled and Viers was selected to serve on the conference committee responsible for the bill's final version, Myrtle Beach High School teacher Peggy Ryals invited him to her English as a Second Language class, where he met some of the students who are now being asked not to return to college.
They were star students, Viers said later, excelling academically in English with dreams of contributing to society.
"I would much rather the illegals who are here to improve their educations and work to assimilate into American culture than us to shut the door in the face when they're trying," Viers said. "I'm one of the strongest supporters of illegal-immigration reform, but we have to have a balance."
The bill he helped design was intended to keep immigrants who enter the country illegally from receiving tuition breaks or other benefits, Viers said - not to bar from college their children who graduate from local high schools and pay out-of-state tuition.
Viers said he now plans to ask the state attorney general's office to review the bill and ask for an interpretation closer to its original intention, and if that fails, to seek an exception that would allow state high school graduates who have lived most of their lives in the U.S. to attend college.
"It may not be the most popular thing, but it's the right thing," Viers said. "They are just as much Americans as you or I."
Ryals, who takes her foreign students to area colleges every year, urging them to overcome their language difficulties, finish high school and seek higher education, said she was encouraged by Viers' words.
"When we deny people an education, we're creating another generation of people who barely survive, instead of contribute to society," Ryals said. "It used to be that we were proud of people seeking that American dream."
Contact ROBERT MORRIS at 626-0294.
As the immigration debate roiled and Viers was selected to serve on the conference committee responsible for the bill's final version, Myrtle Beach High School teacher Peggy Ryals invited him to her English as a Second Language class, where he met some of the students who are now being asked not to return to college.
They were star students, Viers said later, excelling academically in English with dreams of contributing to society.
"I would much rather the illegals who are here to improve their educations and work to assimilate into American culture than us to shut the door in the face when they're trying," Viers said. "I'm one of the strongest supporters of illegal-immigration reform, but we have to have a balance."
The bill he helped design was intended to keep immigrants who enter the country illegally from receiving tuition breaks or other benefits, Viers said - not to bar from college their children who graduate from local high schools and pay out-of-state tuition.
Viers said he now plans to ask the state attorney general's office to review the bill and ask for an interpretation closer to its original intention, and if that fails, to seek an exception that would allow state high school graduates who have lived most of their lives in the U.S. to attend college.
"It may not be the most popular thing, but it's the right thing," Viers said. "They are just as much Americans as you or I."
Ryals, who takes her foreign students to area colleges every year, urging them to overcome their language difficulties, finish high school and seek higher education, said she was encouraged by Viers' words.
"When we deny people an education, we're creating another generation of people who barely survive, instead of contribute to society," Ryals said. "It used to be that we were proud of people seeking that American dream."
Contact ROBERT MORRIS at 626-0294.
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