The other week, I, along with other ODBA bloggers, posted this video of Roscoe not answering a question:
The caller asks about Senate Bill 1204, saying "... I find it interesting that you'd have that position and wondered why you came to that decision to support a bill that would allow an illegal alien to receive in-State tuition."
All right, first off let's look at SB1204. According to Richmond Sunlight, section ("subsection"?) A, paragraph one will be amended to add point ii, which reads:
individuals who are not citizens or nationals of the United States or are unlawfully present in the United States or do not possess a valid visa issued by the Department of Homeland Security to permit study in the United States shall not be eligible for in-state tuition rates at any public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth;
Oh, good! That's wonderful! People who are breaking the law, who haven't come here in the legally recognized way, certainly shouldn't be able to take advantage of the privileges reserved for legal citizens and residents of the Commonwealth.
However, look further down to the addendum of section D:
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A, any person shall be eligible for in-state tuition who:
- Has resided with his parent, guardian, or other person standing in loco parentis while attending a public or private high school in this state;
- Has graduated from a public or private high school in Virginia;
- Has resided in the Commonwealth for at least three years as of the date the individual graduated from high school;
- Has registered as an entering student in an institution of higher education;
- Has provided an affidavit to the institution stating that he has filed an application to become a permanent resident of the United States and is actively pursuing such permanent residency or will do so as soon as he is eligible; and
- Has submitted evidence that he, or in the case of a dependent student, at least one parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis, has filed, unless exempted by state law, Virginia income tax returns for at least three years prior to the date of enrollment.
Now, I'm not a lawyer, so I don't speak legalese. So, if I'm wrong on this, please enlighten me. But that first sentence: "Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A..." As your average, everyday citizen, this reads to me as "IN SPITE of the provisions of subsection A, we're going to allow illegal aliens to have in-State tuition anyway."
What?!
Now, to be fair to Sen. Reynolds, that passed the Senate unanimously... which makes me terribly confused. If my reading is correct, that means that ALL OUR SENATORS favor allowing illegal immigrants access to in-State tuition!
Not. Good.
Now, let's turn to Sen. Reynolds' reply to the caller, shall we? He says:
I can tell you that first of all immigration - if you're going to control the illegal aliens coming in to Virginia, we can't do it at a state level. If it's going to be done, it's got to be done by the federal government.
I find it very, very disappointing that our federal leaders are refusing to take the steps that are necessary to secure our borders...
... and he continues to pass the buck and blame our federal government!
All right, first, let's take a look at Sen. Reynolds' record, shall we? Kilo brings up three other bills - House bills - which passed the house, came to the Senate and were referred to the Courts of Justice (which I assume is some sort of committee which reviews the legality of things). Each and EVERY time, that committee voted in favor of passing over the bill indefinitely.
- HB1618 - States that it is the responsibility of the Governor to enter into an agreement with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would allow the Department of State Police to enforce civil immigration laws.
- HB2322 - Adds a presumption, subject to rebuttal, against admitting to bail any person charged with a felony who is identified as being present in the United States illegally.
- HB2448 - Requires that a jailer shall reasonably attempt to verify the citizen status of certain persons who are confined in jail and that the Department of Corrections shall issue guidelines for such verifications. The bill also requires the Virginia State Bar to investigate the practice of providing legal advice to illegal immigrants and to establish related guidelines on unauthorized practice of law.
All of these seem to me to be reasonable requirements and restrictions when dealing with law enforcement and procedures involving people who are breaking the law already simply by residing in this country via illegal means of entry.
What does Sen. Reynolds have to do with this? Well, he's on the Courts of Justice committee, and he voted in favor of passing by EACH bill indefinitely. He doesn't want to deal with the issue!
Which brings me to my second point: if you are not willing, Sen. Reynolds, to try to take care of the mess right here in our Commonwealth, then why the heck should our federal leaders do so nationally? Responsibility begins at home. You must, if you are that concerned about illegal immigration and American jobs being outsourced, begin the work right here in Virginia!
If you are not willing to steadfastly do your job here, at the "lower" levels of government, why should our national leaders do it in Washington, D.C.?
The buck stops here: do all that you can to make Virginia a very unattractive place for illegal immigrants. Deny them higher education perks, refuse them Medicare/Medicaid benefits, prosecute companies who hire them, and work to properly reform our legal immigration system, and THEN you can chastise our federal leaders.
Personal responsibility, Sen. Reynolds. Get with the program!
