Leftists are well-versed in the politics of incrementalism. And nowhere has there been a greater effort to realize the fruits of such incrementalism than in the arena of immigration. Thus it is no accident that the Left has made every attempt to relegate the phrase “illegal alien” to the dust bin of history and replace it with “undocumented immigrant.” Such a change implies that being in the country illegally isn’t so much against the law as it is a mixup of paper work. Such calculated obfuscation begets political expediency on many fronts. One of the primary fronts is education. With respect to taxpayer-funded college for illegals–which now includes scholarships–the state of California provides a case in point of how a state gets from “here to there” over 25 years.
Beginning in 1985, in Leticia A. v. Board of Regents, the Alameda County Superior Court ruled that the Education Code disallowing “undocumented” students from establishing residence was unconstitutional. As a result, such students could then establish state residence for tuition purposes for both the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems.
Proponents of the decision subsequently formed the Leticia A. Network, comprised of teachers, counselors, students, parents and various rights activists for the purpose of publicizing the ruling and making sure it was followed. A few years later an employee named David Paul Bradford filed a lawsuit against the University of California, claiming he was forced to quit for failing to implement Leticia A. In 1990, Regents of California v. Superior Court (Bradford) established that all illegal alien students enrolling at UC after June of 1991 would be classified as non-residents. In 1992, the California Student Aid Commission followed Bradford and stopped awarding Cal Grants to those students. The UC policy was also adopted by California Community Colleges (CCCs) even though they weren’t mentioned in the Bradford ruling. In 1992 Bradford was extended to include CSU, which appealed the decision and lost. They began implementing it in 1995.
In 1994, California voters approved Proposition 187, also known as Save Our State (SOS) by a whopping 59-41 percent margin. The law barred illegal alien students from attending all public schools in California, from kindergarten through college. Judge Mariana Pfaelzer immediately blocked the law, noting that it might not be constitutional because it failed to provide due process or a hearing before individuals were denied benefits. Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, who was re-elected with 55 percent of vote, supported the measure. At the time the number of illegal alien children attending California public schools was estimated to be between 300,000 and 400,000, costing the state half of the $3 billion it spent on illegals in general out of a state budget of $40 billion.
In 1998, Pfaelzer issued her final ruling on Prop 187, gutting the law. In a now-familiar refrain she ruled that the regulation of illegal immigration is the federal government’s responsibility. Outgoing Gov. Pete Wilson vowed to appeal, but in 1999 incoming Democrat Gov. Gray Davis announced the state would drop it. In 2000, an attempt to overturn Bradford was then undertaken. AB 1197 would have eliminated non-resident tuition rates for all “long-term California residents…regardless of citizenship status.”
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