28/05/2009 / USA - MEXICO
The reason
the ADE went about this in such a way is probably due to the political context
of border communities on the US
- Mexican border. They tend to look at the two separate communities as one
community. They get very upset if the state government takes any action that
distresses the local residents as a whole. You have to remember that in many US towns close
to the border, the majority of residents are Latino. They live on both sides of
the fence: crossing the border is not a problem, as long as you have a
non-immigrant visa or laser visa border crossing board.
Border dispute: Mexican residents attending US state-funded schools
This video claims to show dozens of Mexican residents crossing the border into Arizona and being driven by bus to a school in the town of Douglas, where they allegedly attend a state-funded school. The document has caused a furore in the southwestern state.
The video was released on the state's education department website last Thursday. It was filmed by a staff member of the department, which is run by Republican Tom Horne. He insists that the footage "demonstrates conclusively" that the Omega Alpha Academy school in the town of Douglas is accepting students who reside in Mexico, at a cost of $300,000 [€217,000] per year to Arizona tax payers, and that the school is doing so knowingly:
"Since these vans operate either on school property or in areas immediately adjacent to the property, in full view of school staff, in order to pick up and drop off students, it is impossible that school leadership is unaware of this practice."
The school's leadership responded to the accusation the very next day. Director Jose Frisby scoffed at the alleged "evidence" and pointed out that the Arizona Department of Education had audited the school twice and found it to be in compliance with the law:
"This [is] an edited video that is neither time nor date stamped. Where a student goes before or after school is entirely up to the student, [...this accusation] ignores the reality of cross border traffic that occurs every day in our community. [...] Every student at Omega Alpha Academy has presented evidence, in a form approved by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), demonstrating residency. (...)"
Contributors
The "conclusive" evidence
The edited footage begins outside the school in Douglas, where several children in school uniforms board a van. They are then followed to the border town of Agua Prieta, where they disembark. Children are then shown crossing by foot. The video then seems to cut to another day, when pupils are boarding the bus at the border in order to go in the other direction, towards school. There are then two scenes showing youths disembarking the bus and entering the school.
“The majority have relatives living on the US side and they list that address when they register”
Jack Martin is director of special projects for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti-immigration group.
The reason
the ADE went about this in such a way is probably due to the political context
of border communities on the US
- Mexican border. They tend to look at the two separate communities as one
community. They get very upset if the state government takes any action that
distresses the local residents as a whole. You have to remember that in many US towns close
to the border, the majority of residents are Latino. They live on both sides of
the fence: crossing the border is not a problem, as long as you have a
non-immigrant visa or laser visa border crossing board.
There is a lot of practice of students who reside in Mexico studying in US schools. The majority of these have relatives living on the US side and they list that address when they register with the school. I expect it's probably the perception of the parents that their child would be getting a better education on the northern side of the border.
This situation has developed because the law for charter schools [schools administered by a private board but funded by the state], which this one is, does not contain a clause that excludes foreign nationals from attending. But the fact is, in this area you must be a resident of the state to receive state education.
Jose Frisby's statement basically meant that ‘there are no Mexican pupils that I know of'. That's because nobody's asked them. The two ADE audits that he cites in his statement would not have checked the nationality of the school's pupils - they don't do that. I think in this case the school can't deny these claims any further. I expect there'll be a legal provision put in place and at the end of the school year the non-resident pupils will be stopped from being re-admitted."
Map of Douglas and Agua Prieta
The star shows the location of the Omega Alpha Academy school.
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Comments
A PROBLEM WERE ARE NO PROBLEM
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Fri, 29/05/2009 - 03:18.May 28, 2009
Legislator with the brain Off.
It can be solve very easy. Taxes Remesas proporcionate to the number of student.
Unregistered user
can they look at themselves in the mirror?
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Thu, 28/05/2009 - 19:26.Isn't it weird that a country of, mostly, immigrated people (Americans are descendents from English, France, Holland,...) has so much against new emigrants?
Unregistered user
can CRITCS look at htemselves in the mirror?
Submitted by Joe (not verified) on Thu, 11/06/2009 - 15:02.It's nothing against immigrants, it's about unlawful presence. You should also review your terminology as well - an immigrant is someone pursuing citizenship by relocation. The mental-mush that you're left with by virtue of having repeated to you that any person from outside a country being 'an immigrant' is specious.
There are:
lawful foreign workers
lawful foreign residents
unlawful foreign workers
unlawful foreign residents
none of them are necessarily immigrants. They might be, but to call someone an immigrant ascribes none of the information above specifically.
If deep down, you believe that a nation may not decide who should or shouldn't be able to enter its' territory and live there, then why not advocate open borders and instantaneous citizenship for anyone entering the EU? WHY is that expected of the US, the nation that still has more people trying to immigrate here or move here to work or live than anywhere else on erarth, but not the EU - where spontaneous deportations are taking place now?
Or is the 'purpose' of America to you simply to act as a straw-man and vessel into which you can direct your irrational expectations and invective?
If you feel SO strongly about the way the Unites States does things, or how the population conducts itself, why don't you advocate the measures that are intended to ameliorate those 'great idellible sins' in your own locality to demonstrate the natural superiority of your every notion or whim?
Oh, and in case you're wondering I was at one time in my life a -legal immigrant-, and hold that immigration has a positive effect on the nation's well being. Illegal immigration doesn't. It has at it's core the separation of people from the involvement of newer arrivals in society, and offers us the tribalized 'what's in it for me' social and political environment that even a blind man can see consuming European socities, fueling an already near-permanent bigotry of newcomers and a 'hatrred of the other' that has ALWAYS characterized Europe. How, after all, can one native population have a language with only a tangential relationship with another native population 100km away?
Heal thyself, Doctor; and if you want to experiment with social concepts, try it on yourself first rather than trying to sneer your way into the lives of others. The world has already had to suffer from the byproduct of wars between europeans that have drawn the blood of the rest of teh world, and had to suffer from the 'grand humanistic ideas' that Europeans have invented: Fascism, Marxism, and the cult of the state have killed hundreds of millions of people. Ask yourself where those ideas originated, and whether or not the habit of 'lesson giving' and 'dispensing wisdom' by those societies changed in any way.
Unregistered user
What would you do, if you were in their place?
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Tue, 23/06/2009 - 23:24.I'm struck by the strong negative feelings I see expressed here. Without out entering the discussion in detail, I just wonder how you (and the others in the discussion) would behave if the roles were reversed and it was your kids who had a possibility of getting the better education.
Unregistered user
Vive la difference
Submitted by Mark Nolan (not verified) on Fri, 29/05/2009 - 14:07.Isn't it strange that there are so many complete idiots who cannot understand that when someone enters a sovereign nation illegally, that person is committing a crime ?
My ancestors came here from Ireland, but they did it LEGALLY. Do I have to draw you a picture ?
Unregistered user
Ahem, you're a bit confused
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Thu, 28/05/2009 - 22:59.Ahem, you're a bit confused on the subject. Who is against immigration? I think you're confusing illegal immigration with immigration in general. That being said, I am the son of a Mexican who came here by legal means, and even I am very against illegal immigration. I actively participate in a Hispanic-American group against illegal immigration called "You Don't Speak For Me". By definition, being born here defines one as being native. Illegals immigrants can try to justify their illegal immigration by their ethnicity (most of them seem to think they're indigenous) and point their fingers at everyone else for being a 'racist', but, at the end of the day, we are not willing to let our citizens bare the cost of babysitting Mexico's lower class citizens, which Mexico is more than capable of doing.
Unregistered user