Those illegal alien students sucking up taxpayer-subsidized state tuition in California aren’t all Mexicans–not by a long shot. Nearly half are Asian.

Picture an undocumented student, and the first image to pop up is unlikely to be an Asian one.

Yet a recent report by the University of California Office of the President revealed that 40 to 44 percent of undocumented students in the UC system are Asian. This is definitely not “a Mexican thing,” which is how one undocumented student characterized the Asian community’s dismissive views towards undocumented immigration.

“People will ask you: ‘Are you AB 540? Because obviously you are not Latina,’” explains Tam, a 24-year-old of Vietnamese descent who recently graduated from UCLA (the last names of the undocumented students in this article have been withheld to protect their identities).
[Undocumented Asian Students Face Stigma, New America Media Oct. 14, 2008]

The tuition subsidy to foreigners costs state taxpayers an estimated $117 million per year — a substantial sum even in profligate California.

Incidentally, some private universities quietly award financial aid to illegal alien students, according to Inside Higher Ed (Oct 16): A Message to Prospective Undocumented Students.

High school counselors keep lists – short lists based on unofficial, one-on-one conversations about which colleges, mostly private ones, admit and grant institutional aid to illegal immigrants, says David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

It is rare, indeed, when I turn down an opportunity to speak on behalf of those who support strict enforcement of our immigration laws and who favor sharply reduced levels of legal immigration.

Unfortunately, this was the case when the Rotary Club in Wayzata, Minn., a town of about 4,000 people just west of Minneapolis (and a four-hour drive from my Wisconsin home), said I would have 25 minutes at its Oct. 22 luncheon to discuss illegal immigration plus a 5-minute Q&A.

But what I found even more unsettling than the Rotary’s unwillingness to devote more time to such a critical public policy issue was the naïveté of Chuck Schoen , the Rotarian who extended the invitation to me:

“We have not had a speaker on the illegal subject, so I would like to enlighten the locals to what is heading our way from S. Cal(ifornia).”

Memo to Mr. Schoen: Illegal immigration isn’t “headed your way.” It’s already there.

This is from the Lower Hudson Valley Journal News

Beyond Borders: Debates end with nary a question on immigration

October 16, 2008 11:19 AM

So are we surprised that immigration reform did not make the list of questions during tonight’s third and final presidential debate? The only mention came when Sen. John McCain said his immigration stance had been distorted by Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign.

And of course Obama’s ads, in Spanish, distorted McCain’s immigration stance by making him look like a Republican. Fox News said they made him look like “a two-faced, anti-immigrant lawmaker intolerant of Hispanics“ when, as we all know, he’s a  two-faced, pro-immigrant lawmaker intolerant of Republicans.

The disillusioned-Mexicans-going-home theme has recently become a popular (aka easy-to-write) story in the MSM, particularly in light of the cratering economy. Many versions contain the implication that the United States has somehow failed to keep its promise to foreign wealth seekers. (Funny, I thought the American Dream was for citizens whose ancestors built the place and legal newcomers — not Mexican carpetbaggers.)

This mildly downbeat retread is notable for a couple of illustrative quotes and statistics: [Crisis, crackdown turn Mexicans off American dream, Reuters, October 15, 2008].

ACATZINGO, Mexico – Caught by the U.S. economic crisis and a crackdown on illegal immigrants, Mexican workers are increasingly quitting the United States and coming home, disillusioned with the American dream. [...]

“It’s better to be poor back in Mexico than to be a hamster in its cage up there,” Martinez said. Illegal immigrants in some cases can now expect lengthy prison sentences for breaking U.S. immigration laws. [...]

In the town of Tenancingo, which governs the villages of Acatzingo, Terranate and Tepalcatepec, mayor Gabriel Gallegos estimates that as much as a third of the 100,000 people from the town and surrounding villages are in the United States.

He jokes that in Delaware his constituents have settled “another Tenancingo,” but he is worried the U.S. slowdown could send many people packing for home.

“If they all come back in a bunch, it is going to bring on a lot of economic problems, because we don’t have jobs for them,” Gallegos said. “Some who come back turn to crime.”

Next story: how increased crime in Mexico is the fault of hard-hearted America.