Dear Editor:
As a legal immigrant, I wish to respond to your article, "Undocumented students live in Massachusetts without benefits" (Friday, Oct. 21, 2005).
There are well over 30 millions poor Americans of all racial background who are not yet living the American Dream. Many American students cannot afford college or have to take out student loans. Is it responsible to subsidize illegal alien students who have no legal right to be in this country with reduced tuition at the expense of our own native underprivileged?
Open border advocates claim that those illegal youngsters' parents pay taxes. However, last December, Barron's reported that the underground economy in this country was fueled largely by "the nation's swelling ranks of low-wage illegal immigrants" and would "soon pass $1 trillion."Even if their low-skilled illegal alien parents pay taxes, the revenues they generate are not sufficient to offset the cost of educating their grade school children -- at an average of over $7,000 per child per year -- let alone the cost of other infrastructure.
The United States' priority is care first for Americans.
Sincerely,
Yeh Ling-Ling
Executive Director
Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America
Oakland, CA 94612
